Of Cars and Greasers
by Rum Aficionado
Summary: Jaune grew up in an out of the way spot in the middle of nowhere Vale. Most of his family couldn't pay much attention to him. His parents were always working, his Sisters didn't really bother him too much, and the only person who could rely on was his Gramps. But it was with Gramps that he had learned a lot of things about himself. He likes Cars, going fast, and being a dick.
1. Chapter 1: Of Cars and Pancakes.

I'll be honest, I've never been too good with these sorts of things, but the Doc said that it'd be good for me, so I'll try my best.

I was born to two loving parents, both of which worked in a profession that I'm not particularly all too fond of. They were both hunters, and I understand just how important that is, but honestly, it made for a pretty lonely childhood. Sure, I had my sisters, but they paid about as much attention to me as a cat would with a mouse. They played with me for a while, but as soon as I became boring, they shooed me away. The only thing that really balanced that out was the occasional trips to my Grandpa's place.

You see, Gramps ran this old scrapyard where you could find just about anything if you looked hard enough. Gramps, as a bit of a hobby, liked tinkering around with Car parts and things like that, and because Grandpa was the only person that paid consistent attention to me, I sort of got into it. Alright, that's a bit of a lie, I got really into it. I got so into it that Gramps and I sat down and built a piece of shit car together. Granted, it's a piece of shit, but it's a piece of shit that Gramps and I built together, and that's all that matters.

That all happened when I was… fourteen, I think? I don't know, time passed by a little too fast for me. What I do remember, however, is the fact that the person who taught me how to man up was Gramps, not my own father. Hell, Gramps was more of a dad to me than my own father was, but I can't really hold it against him.

Gramps taught me the whole shebang, stand tall, be confident, speak with some conviction, and take bullshit from no one. Granted, Gramps' virtues stem from a different time, but it's not like that really matters when they've worked for me this far, er, almost.

But yeah, a year ago, Gramps got sick with something and couldn't really afford to keep the Scrapyard going and handed it off to one of his subordinates. He's currently living with the rest of the family, unfortunately, but what can you do?

As I look up at the page that I'm scribbling my thoughts on to, I notice that I've reached my quota for the day, and with that, I put the cap back onto my pen and close this little notebook in front of me. I let out a sigh as I lean back into my chair, "Ugh, why does the Doc make me do this? I'm perfectly stable as is, maybe it's everyone else that's unstable, hmph." I let out a huff as I cross my arms, I mean, I know the reasons that the Good Doctor gives me about my "anger issues", I just don't believe them though.

I push myself away from my desk and stand up, doing a little bit of a stretch, and walk away from my desk, I could really do with a bite to eat. However, just as I start to make my way out of my room and towards my kitchen, I can feel my scroll start to vibrate in my pocket. "Oh come on! I just want food!"

With a sigh, I pull out my scroll and, without looking at the caller I.D, answer, "Hello, you've reached Jaune Arc, I'm not at the phone right now, leave a message and fuck off." I say, deadpan as can be.

I can hear the sound of someone letting out a breath, sounding somewhat peeved, well good, I was in the middle of something. _"Haha, you're absolutely hilarious."_ I can hear the voice of a friend of mine ring through.

"What the hell, how'd you know I was real, Ren?" I asked, no seriously, I'm genuinely curious.

I hear my school friend let out a sigh, _"Jaune, I've heard your voicemail a hundred times by now, I can tell when it's you and when it's not."_ I hear him say, sounding slightly miffed, and I feel a shiver crawl up my spine.

"Dude, that's kind of creepy."

_"It would be less creepy if you would pick up my calls when I called you."_

"...Agree to disagree?"

I hear Ren let out one last sigh, _"Sure. So, what are you doing at this moment?"_ I hear Ren ask, and I can already tell what's happening, but sure, I'll play along.

I shrug, not that he can see it, "Nothing new, just hanging out in my apartment, why do you ask?" I ask, trying to just get to the point at this rate.

I hear him let out a hum of amusement, _"Do you feel like coming out with Nora and I to get some Lunch?"_ I hear Ren ask, how the hell does he do that?! How does he know when I'm trying to get lunch?!

I cough into my hand, regaining a bit of my composure, "Yeah, sure thing, I'll swing by Beacon and pick you guys up. Anything in particular that we're getting?" Please don't say pancakes, please don't say pancakes.

_"Oh you know, just pancakes."_ Fuck.

I suppress the urge to sigh as my shoulders slump, now don't get me wrong, Pancakes are great, but they get old when you eat them every other day. "Right, well let me go ahead and get changed and I'll be there in…" I look up at the clock on my wall, the hands on it tell me that it's 11:45, "Roughly twenty minutes."

I can hear Ren on the other side say, _"Alright, Nora and I will be waiting. And Jaune?"_

"Yes~?"

_"No speeding."_ Goddammit, why does he always have to ruin my fun?

"Alright, alright, spoil sport. Welp, I'll see you in twenty minutes." I say, and with that, I end the call. No, I did not just want to have the last word, you're delusional.

With that, I close my scroll and shove it back into my pocket, now then, what should I wear for Lunch? As I walk back into my room, I make my way over to my drawer, and pull it open, and notice something a little annoying.

"...I forgot to fold my clothes yesterday." I say quietly to no one in particular, how did I forget to fold my clothes yesterday after doing Laundry? I let out a sigh, I've only got myself to blame for that, I'll pick up when I get home.

I, at random, draw a shirt from my drawer, grabs a new pair of jeans, and drape them over my shoulder. "Alright, now comes the hard part." I mumble to myself.

I make my way over to my closet, almost stumbling over a shirt on the ground, okay, now how the fuck did that get there? I quickly bend over and pick it up and toss it into a corner, I'm in a bit of a rush right now, I'll get it later. With that, I open up my closet, and in front of me sits several hoodies. Do I want a zip-up hoodie, or a Over-the-head hoodie?

And even then, I've got to think about color scheme. I need something that'll match my blue jeans, so… Maybe my white zip-up hoodie? I grab my white zip-up off of its hanger and hold it in front of me, nothing particularly special about it or anything, just a plain hoodie.

I put my index finger and chin against my chin as I stare at the hoodie I'm holding up, "Yeah, this will work." With that, I quickly throw off my shorts and t-shirt and throw on my new set of clothes, and then throw on a bit of deodorant and some cologne, mostly because who wants to go out smelling ripe and rancid?

Alright, I've got fresh clothes, my scroll. Now then, where's my wallet? I quickly scan my room as I pat my pockets, and see that my wallet is just on my nightstand. I let out a chuckle as I walk over to my nightstand and stuff my wallet into my other pocket.

Okay, now that that's all done with, I guess I can get going. I make my way out of my room and close the door behind me, walking out into the living room/kitchen area. Thankfully, the rest of my apartment is much cleaner than my room, but that's because I don't really plan on showing anyone my room, so it's kind of whatever to me.

I make my way towards the actual door of my apartment, and grab my keys off of the little hook next to the door, and I open the door to my apartment and close it behind me, locking it with my keys and shoving my keys into my pocket. With that, I take a deep breath, and make my way to the stairs to get to the lobby.

So, after a bit of walking, I make my way to the stairs and start making my way down, nothing too complicated, I mean, it'll always be easier than walking up stairs. As I make my way down the empty stairway, I can hear the sounds of my footsteps reverberate around the stairwell.

Now, at the bottom of the stairwell, I push open the door and make my way out into, you guessed it, another hallway. But this one leads to the Lobby, so no harm no foul. So, I make my way through the hallway, passing people as they make their way to their rooms and what not, and I finally manage to make it to the Lobby.

I let out a bit of a breath, "Man, I've really gotta learn to walk around more often, might save me a pretty penny on fuel too." I mutter to myself as I walk through the lobby, making my way to the door leading to the outside.

I almost end up bumping into this guy in a suit, but I manage to step back in time, and I rub the back of my head, a bit embarrassed, "Sorry, didn't mean to almost run into you there." I say, I'm just glad I didn't bump into the guy. I see the fellow dust off his long white coat and straight a little bowler hat that rested neatly on top of his head, and is he wearing guy-liner? Man, fashion is getting stranger and stranger every year.

I can hear the man clear his throat as he covers his mouth with his fist, "No harm done, kiddo. Say, do you know where room 203 is?" I can hear him ask, almost politely, but for some reason I don't feel like he's really asking, you know?

I shove my hands into my hoodie pockets, more out of self-comfort than anything, "Ah, yeah, it should be… I think a floor above us, close to the stairs?" I say, slightly uncertain, but it's around here somewhere, so I'm probably not that far off.

I can hear the man let out a hum as he reaches into his pocket with one hand as reaches for my hand with the other, I am extremely uncomfortable right now. As he grabs my right hand from out of my pocket, and places a 100 dollar lien into my hand, what?! "Thanks for the tip, kid. Go get yourself something nice. Oh, and by the way…" I hear him say, before he starts to walk past me, stopping by my shoulder, "You might want to get lost for a couple of hours And do yourself the favor of forgetting this whole thing." I can hear the man say in a low, yet menacing voice, and I can feel a shiver go up my spine.

My eyes widen, I quickly nod and shove the 100 lien into my pocket, and as I do that, I can see the man smirk, "Well Kid, at least you're smart. Now, go on, shoo." I hear him say with the wave of a hand, and with that, I quite seriously fuck off as fast as I can without looking weird. I fast walk my way to the door, and the second I reach the door, I push it open, and rush to my car. Okay, fuck that, I'm gonna go pick up Ren and Nora now and forget that little exchange ever happened, it's none of my business anyway.

* * *

After roughly two minutes of cruising around Vale, taking the long route to Beacon, I start to feel a bit more at ease, the sound of the engine being this strange raspy sound that I've grown so used to. As I cruise through the streets, my window rolled down ever so slightly, I let out a sigh, "Man, that was… that was really shady. Like, just who the hell was that guy?" I ask myself, but it doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, all that matters is that I can keep going.

As I drive through the streets of Vale, I notice that plenty of people are walking around the streets, visiting stores and heading to work, all that fun jazz. All in all, Vale's a nice place, but there ain't no place like home, back at Gramps' garage. Speaking of Gramps, I've got to give him a call soon.

After a nice, relaxing little drive, I notice that I'm now closer to Beacon than I was roughly twenty minutes ago, and as I start making my way towards Beacon, I can see a certain Mistrali friend of mine, along with his 'not-together-together' friend, Nora sitting on a wooden bench, not all too far from the beginning of Beacon's campus. I chuckle to myself at the memory of when I first asked about their friendship, it's a moment that I'll keep near and dear, mostly because of how stupid that argument was.

As I drive a little closer to them, I slowly ease into the brake and park next to the curb closest to them, rolling down the passenger side window. "What's up, losers?" I ask jokingly as I unlock my car for them to get in.

I watch as Nora, being Nora, bolts up from the bench and rushes to the passenger side of the car, "Dibs on shotgun!" I can hear her yell, oh okay, just gonna ignore me now? With that, I lock the doors again, and see her pull at the handle. "Jauney, open the car door, I'm starving!" I can hear Nora yell, almost groaning it all out.

I turn my head away from her, "Not until you answer my question, so I'll say it again. What's up, Losers?" I ask, this time just trying to be a bit of an ass. It's one of my charms, knowing when I'm being an asshole.

I can hear Nora groan as she leans backwards, almost falling if it weren't for the fact that Ren was standing behind her, "Jauney, we're doing great, now let us in! Or I'll break your stupid car door!" I can hear her threaten, oh ho ho, you do not want to try that, my dearest Nora. I will break you.

I glare at her out of the side of my eye, "You break it, you pay for it." I state, and believe me, she will pay for it. But I know she probably didn't mean anything by it, so I'll let it go. With that said, I unlock the doors to my car and watch as Nora almost rushes into the passenger seat, except for the fact that Ren taps her on the shoulder first.

"Nora, wouldn't it be better for me to get into the back first?" I can hear Ren ask, almost as though he's trying to convince her than anything. I can see Nora place a finger on her chin, only for her to shrug. So, with that, Ren hops into the back of my car first, with Nora jumping in Passenger.

I cough into my hand, clearing my throat, "Alright, so the plan's to go out and grab some pancakes, right? There's nothing else you guys want to do? Nothing at all?" I ask, mostly prodding to see if they're free for the next few hours because, well, I just don't want to be at home right now, because that fellow in the white suit with the ginger hair made me… uncomfortable.

I can hear Nora let out a hum, "Well~, we do have classes in a few hours, but it's just Grimm Anatomy, so we could just-"

"No Nora, we're not going to skip class so that you can just eat Pancakes for the next few hours." I can hear Ren cut Nora off.

I let out a groan, "Boo, party pooper." I say, a little sad that I couldn't convince my friends to toss aside an education that will get them killed for a little bit of fun on the town. Wow, now I'm sad for a whole different reason. I shake my head, trying to forget what I just thought.

I can hear Ren let out a sigh, "Jaune, Nora and I can't skip class today, we're reviewing for exams today, we have to be there." I can hear Ren say in a relaxed tone. It really messes with me as for how he can stay calm all the time.

I can see Nora lean back in her car seat, letting out a sigh, "But Renny, we can review for the exams when we get back to Beacon, besides, we've already got all the notes. What'll one day gone do to us?" I can hear Nora ask rhetorically, yes! She's on the side of fun!

I turn around in my seat and look at Ren, "I mean, I've got nothing to do all day, so it's all sort of whatever to me. Besides…" I say, reaching into my pocket, pulling out the 100 Lien from my pocket, "That would give me a chance to treat you guys to some good food." I say, following it with a chuckle. I may have only known these two for roughly a month or two, but I really appreciate them. I mean, I guy like me doesn't have a lot of friends, so I treat the ones I do have the best I can.

I can Ren and Nora's eyes widen, Nora's in delight, and Ren's in shock, "Jaune, I can't accept that. Isn't your rent due soon?" I can hear Ren ask, and at that, I jokingly scoff.

"Come on now Ren, I may be a little strapped for cash, but I'm not so strapped that I can't afford to pay for rent. Also, you really need to learn to accept a gift when someone offers it, it's one of your minor flaws, my man." I say, wagging my finger in front of my face.

I watch as Ren looks at the 100 lien in my hand, and then back at Nora, and he repeats this process a few times, before letting out a sigh, "Alright, if you're so sure, we'll let you treat us to Lunch, and, if I can get in touch with a friend of ours, we might not have to go to class… maybe." I can hear him say, obviously uncomfortable with the notion of skipping class, well, if he keeps hanging out with me, he'll get used to it.

A thought dawned on me, and I can hear Nora kind of sperging out in her seat, thinking of all sorts of good food, but more importantly, "Am I a bad influence on you guys?" I ask.

"An abysmally terrible influence, yes." I can hear Ren say.

"Oh yeah, you're a bad influence, but this does not make you a bad influence." I can hear Nora say, I don't even know what that means, but I'll take that as a compliment.

I let out a chuckle as I pressed in the clutch and shifted the old 5-speed into first, "Alright, we're going to a pancake place, right? How about Benny's?" I ask, to which I get a near immediate response out of her.

As drive back onto the road and start taking us to some place that would feed us, I can hear Nora make some sound of disgust, "Benny's? But everything in that place tastes like egg! Why not go somewhere with the highest quality pancakes, IBOP?" I can hear her ask.

I let out a chuckle as I make a turn, "Alright then, IBOP it is."

* * *

After a short drive, Ren, Nora and I finally made it to the IBOP, I parked my car somewhere close to the door, and we walked inside and were taken to a booth to sit. Nora, being Nora, pulled Ren into the booth with her, with her taking the more interior bit of it. Me, I took a seat on the other side of the booth. Nora ended up ordering every one of us an order of classic pancakes, nothing special. But for a while, Ren and Nora had just had a back and forth conversation, discussing if it was really wise on ditching class for today.

I let out a bit of a chuckle as I pull out my scroll, checking the time, "You know, if you two hadn't informed me when we first met, I still would have thought you two had a thing for each other." I say calmly, flipping through apps on my scroll, trying to kill some time until our food gets here.

I see them both turn to me, looking at me inquisitively, "Jauney, come on, I don't see Ren like that, he's like a big brother to me, always trying to make me look after myself." I hear, to which I immediately suck air through my teeth, oh that's painful to hear.

"Nora, you've got to be careful when you say stuff like that, you'll hurt a guy's feelings doing that some day." I say as I set my scroll on the table, this is a serious conversation.

I watch as Nora would tilt her head, kind of like a confused puppy, "Wait, what did I do?" I hear her ask.

At that, I let out a sigh, "Nothing, just… forget I said anything." I say calmly, I forget that Nora's not quick to pick up on that sort of thing. You see, Nora's the kind of girl who's quick to make friends with anyone, but the second someone wants to be more than friends, she doesn't notice it and it just kind of goes off course. At least, that's what I've sort of pieced together, what with her interactions with Ren. Then again, Ren hasn't shown that much interest either.

I close my eyes as I bring a hand to my chin, letting out a low hum, I mean, I know Ren and Nora aren't together and all, but there's got to be something between them. Wait, what am I saying, it's not like it's any of my business anyway.

As I contemplate whether or not I should bother trying to decipher the truth behind Ren and Nora's friendship, I can hear Nora ask, "So Jaune, when's the next big ra-" Only for her mouth to be covered by Ren's hand.

"What Nora means to ask is, when is your next job?" I can hear Ren ask, and he slowly removes his hand from Nora's mouth.

I use the table to prop up my elbow and put my hand against my cheek, "You know, I still haven't gotten a text from work. Why, do you guys plan on showing up to my workplace?" I ask with a quirked brow.

I can see Nora's grin widen a bit, "You betcha we plan on showing up, Mama needs a new pair of boots!" I hear Nora say.

"Nora, we're going to Jaune's workplace to show our support, not to bet money on him." I hear Ren state, nearly deadpanning.

"Oh come on Ren, I am supporting Jauney. I mean, if I didn't believe in him, I wouldn't put money on him." I hear her say, and at that I chuckle.

"You know, she does have a point Ren. She wouldn't put money on me if she didn't think I could do it. But uh, between you and me, I wouldn't put money on me." I say, covering the side of my mouth with my hand. Now, I'm not saying that I can't win, I just don't want to share.

I can hear Nora snicker as she waves my comment aside, "Yeah right, and leave you to be the only one to make their worth? I don't think so, buster."

"Nora don't, we need that money for food." I can hear Ren say, almost pleading.

"But Ren, we'll be able to get as much food as we want when Jauney wins!" I hear Nora retort.

I furrow my brows in concern, "Nora, please don't put your financial well-being in my hands like that. I don't need that kind of stress."

At that, I hear Nora laugh, "Come on guys, it was just me messing with you. Even I wouldn't bet all of our money on you, Jauney." And at that, Ren and I collective let out a sigh of relief, "Just most of it."

I raise a brow as I look over to Ren, "So uh, don't let Nora spend any money, the last thing I want is for her to go without food for a week."

However, as Ren was about to say something, I can hear my scroll buzz against the table. I let out a hum as I pick up my scroll, and see that I've received a text. And who it's from is even funnier.

"Hey, you guys were asking when my next job is, right? Well, turns out it's on Saturday, but it's just going to be a mellow day. Nothing super exciting." I say with a chuckle, just a little meetup, nothing crazy.

I can see Nora grab Ren's shoulder, and she just starts shaking him, "Renny! We've got nothing to do Saturday! Let's go!" I can hear her practically yell into his ear. Oh Ren, you poor, poor fool.

Despite being shaken thoroughly though, Ren doesn't seem all too phased, "But Nora, what about Pyrrha?" I can hear Ren ask, also, who?

I can see her hold eye contact with Ren for a solid ten seconds, her shaking stopping. "Ren, would you leave a six year old unattended when you're going out?" I can hear Nora ask, sounding serious.

"Nora, what does a six year old have to do with Pyrrha?"

"I'm just trying to make you understand what I'm talking about! If we bring Pyrrha with us, she might get out of her little slump!" I can hear Nora yell, and seriously, who the fuck is Pyrrha?

I let out a sigh and slump back into the booth, "Guys, I hate to be a spoil sport, but who the hell is Pyrrha?" I ask, and at this, Ren and Nora break eye contact to stare at me.

"Pyrrha is-" I hear Nora say before getting cut off.

"Is our dear teammate, I'm sure you two would get along." I can hear Ren say, okaaaaay, something's up.

"Uh huh, well you'll have to introduce me sometime, but for now, let's just enjoy the breakfast, WHENEVER IT GETS HERE!" I say that last part a little louder.

* * *

So, a couple of hours go by, Ren, Nora and I got our lovely breakfast, went out and caught a movie, you know, friend stuff. I ended up using more than that 100 lien I got earlier, and honestly, it doesn't really bother me all that much.

I hum to myself as I'm driving back to my little apartment, just cruising through quiet streets of Night Time Vale. Out of the corner of my eye, as I drive, I can see the lights from street lamps flicker past as I cruise by, a strange feeling of serenity washing over me. The pitch black sky being contrasted by the sight of the broken moon above. Funny, it almost feels like I'm all alone.

This is the best part about Night time driving, the feeling of just being alone with me and my thoughts. I stifle a yawn as I turn a corner, revealing the apartment complex that I stay in. Just a few more minutes, then I can crash. Not the car though, just me.

I let out a chuckle as I drag a hand down my face, "Man, I must be really out of it if I'm here in my car talking to myself." I say, and lightly slap myself to keep myself awake.

As I pull into the parking lot, I coast into my usual spot with the clutch pushed in and pull on the handbrake. You know, I could honestly just sleep in my car if I wanted to, but I shouldn't, it gets really fucking cold at night.

With a sigh, I shut off my car and take the keys out of the ignition and stuff them in my pocket. "You know, today's been pretty good to me, it felt nice." I mutter to myself as I open the driver side door and lock both it and the other door with the press of a button.

With that, I step out of my car, close the door, and shove my hands into my hoodie pockets as I stumble my sleep deprived ass through the parking lot and into the apartment complex.

And so, I quietly make my way through the lobby, trying not to bother anyone that could still be working, my way to the stairwell that I came through earlier, and I start making my way up the stairs.

Now at the floor that I want to be in, I stumble my way through the halls in search of my apartment, which is isn't actually all too hard to find, since it's not too far from the stairwell to begin with. After my finding my door, I rummage through my pocket and fish out my keys, stick the key to my apartment into the lock, turn, and open my door, revealing to me that my apartment is just as I left it.

I let out a sigh as I close the door behind me and stick my keys on a hook next to the door, "Home, sweet home." I mutter to myself as I unzip my hoodie and head over to the kitchen area.

I pull out one of the wooden chairs next to the kitchen table, and I take my hoodie off and put it on the back of the chair. With that done, I collapse into the chair and yawn loudly. "No, I can't sleep, not yet." I mutter to myself as I slap myself lightly.

I fish my scroll out of my pocket, and dial a number. As I hold my scroll up to my ear, the sound of ringing being all that I can hear, until I hear a clicking sound come from my scroll, and here a hoarse voice say, _"Hello?"_

I let out a chuckle, "Heya Gramps."

* * *

**Alright Gamers, that's going to be it for now. Let me know what your thoughts are about this little chapter. You know the whole schtick by now, review, follow, favorite, all that fun shit. Oh, and thanks to my fucking Brochacho Luzifer for helping out so much with helping me plan out the story and write the doc, you're a real champ. Okay that's it, now get the hell outta here you beautiful bastards.**


	2. Chapter 2: Of Cars and Cartoons

_"Hello?" _I hear the sound of a hoarse voice come from my scroll.

I let out a chuckle, "Heya Gramps." I say casually into my scroll as I slump back into my kitchen chair.

_"Jaune, you little rat bastard, how have you been my boy? I haven't heard from you in, how long has it been? A month?" _I hear good ol' Gramps say, a hint of amusement in his voice.

At his question, I smile, "Gramps, it's been two weeks. It hasn't been _that _long. But yeah, I'm good. How about you, Gramps? How're you feeling?"

_"Bah, I feel like my age, boy. How do you think I feel?"_ I can hear Gramps say, only for him to follow that up with string of strained coughs, and the sound of him spitting whatever he coughed up. Alright, kinda gross, but I can't dock him for it, he is kinda sick.

I let out a chuckle in response to what he said, "Fair enough, Gramps, silly question. So, how are the rest of the family? Are Mom and Dad finally deciding to slow down and relax?" I ask, now as much as I kind of resent Ma and Dad for not being around, I'm still capable of loving them. If only a little.

_"Ha, you think they plan on slowing down at any point? As wrong as it sounds to say, my Boy, in your dreams."_ Okay, no need to be a dick. _"But enough about us over here, what about you Jaune, how's the mechanic work going?"_ At that, I stifle the feeling to suck air through my teeth.

"It's uh, it's going." It's not going, I quit that job a month ago, they didn't pay me anywhere near enough for that bullshit. "I'll be honest, the pay is not worth the bullshit."

I can hear Gramps let out a dry chuckle, _"It never is, my Boy, it never is. Oh, how's the old car working, still running smoothly?"_ I hear Gramps ask, and I find myself thinking that the wall certainly is interesting.

"Eheheh, you see uh…"

_"What did you do, boy?" _I hear the sterner side of Gramps come out.

"Well uh, the engine every once and a while will flip it's shit and make a lot of clanking sounds and I've got no fucking clue what it could be."

_"...Have you been checking your oil level, boy?"_

At that, I go quiet. I uh, I kinda forgot to do that for a while. Haven't had to do much for the past month, so I've just been enjoying the solitude.

_"Go check the oil levels whenever you can, Boy. I swear I taught you better than that."_ I hear Gramps say, slightly annoyed, and at that, I laugh.

"Sorry Gramps, but it completely slipped my mind, honest. I've been a little distracted recently. I'll go and do what needs doing later." I say, now if it were anyone else, I would have probably gotten a little snarky, but not with Gramps, because sick or not, he'd still find where I am and kick my ass. And bless his heart for caring that much.

For a moment, Gramps goes quiet before letting out a 'hmph', _"So distracted that you'd forget to do regular maintenance on your car? What, did you find yourself a lady friend or something?" _I hear Gramps jest, and at that, I nearly bust a gut.

"Ha, yeah right! As if I'd go out of my way to hook up with a girl when I've got better things to be doing!"

_"Pfft, like what? Masturbating to your Mistrali cartoons?"_

"Alright, first of all, ow! Second of all, no!" I yell into my scroll, my face feeling a little warmer than it was a minute ago. Seriously, that was one time! One time!

I let out a sigh, trying to calm myself down. That was one time, one time! "So uh, have you gone out to see Gran here recently?"

I hear nothing come from my scroll for what felt like a good minute, before hearing Gramps let out a long sigh, _"I was actually meaning to ask if you wanted to come back out here sometime next week whenever you're off so that we could go and visit her together."_

"Yeah, sure. Does Monday work for you Gramps?"

I can hear Gramps snort from his side, _"Any day works for me, boy. Not like I'm working right now." _I hear him say, I mean, I'm not working either, but I wouldn't dare say it.

"Alright Gramps, well I'll see you Monday. But uh, I'm sorry I've got to cut this call a little short, but I'm dead tired and I need sleep."

_"Alright boy, go on and get your rest. I'll see you on Monday. I'll send your regards to the rest of the family."_

"Alright, bye." And with that, I hang up the call, shove my scroll into my pocket, and find myself slinking further into my seat. A new wave of tiredness washes over me, I need to get to bed.

I force myself out of the surprisingly comfortable kitchen chair and stumble towards my room. I let out a loud yawn, and with it, I close my eyes for a split second. However, as I finish yawning, I end up bumping into my door head fast. "Who put that fucking door there?" I mutter to myself as I rub my aching forehead.

I turn the knob to my door and it reveals my room, with clothes scattered all over the floor. I let out a groan as I stumble over to my bed, then flop on it, "I'll wash and arrange all of the clothes in the morning."

And with that, I crash.

* * *

_A few days later…_

So, a couple of days have gone by since I last wrote anything in this little journal of mine. Not much has really happened, I went out with Ren and Nora for a bit, we caught some Breakfast, or was it Lunch? Brunch, we got Brunch, and it was pretty nice. We went out and caught a movie, it was based on the Great War, something about some guy trying to save more than a thousand men and his brother, it was pretty good.

They said that they planned on showing up to the meetup later today, so I'm probably going to have to pick them up. They also said they'd be bringing a friend, so here's to hoping that all goes well. Best case scenario, I make a new friend, worst case? Well, I don't particularly want to think about it, but if all goes tits up, I probably won't be able to head back to those meetups for a while.

Oh well, no point in thinking too hard about it. As I scribble into my journal, I find myself comfortable with what I've written. It's not too much, but not too little.

I close my journal and lean back into my seat. I fish out my scroll and see that it's ten in the morning, and at that, I groan, "Why won't time go by faster? I want to go fast! I need speed!" I practically whine as I fall out of my chair.

As I thud against the ground, I let out a sigh, "I've got to wait for ten hours, and I've got nothing to do. If I were a lesser man, I would think about spending my day with my hand in my pants, but that shit's fuckin' wack." I mutter to myself, the back of my head feeling kinda painful against the hardwood floor. But a funny thought occurs.

"Heh, wack. Hard Wood. Heh. That came a little too easily. Heh, came." I giggle to myself like some stupid school girl, a dopey grin on my face. Penis jokes are so easy to make.

As I giggle to myself like some stupid kid, I hear the sound of someone knock on my apartment door. I stretch on the floor and pick myself up and crack my neck a little as I make my way out of my bedroom and into my living room.

I make my way over to my door, turn the knob, and pull, revealing to me the man that I nearly bumped into yesterday. The same dude that I'm pretty sure bribed my silence. I let go of the door knob and let the door hit the wall, and bring both of my hands together and press them against my mouth and nose. This is concerning.

I can see as the man leans against his cane with one hand and pops his hat with the other, "Heya Kiddo, surprised to see me so soon?" I can hear the man say, almost sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" I ask, trying to feign some semblance of ignorance.

"Ah, see, man of his word, look at that. Tell me kid, what's your name?"

"It's Ja-"

"Cool, don't care, Jack. Listen, mind if I step inside for a minute?" I hear him ask again, and I feel like he's not really asking.

"Uh, you see, I haven't actually had a chance to-"

"Alright, great. You're a good sport, Kid, I'll tell you that." I hear him say as he pushes past me and makes his way into my living room. I hear him whistle, "Nice little place you got here, Kid? How can you even afford it? You don't have any roommates." I hear him say, and for some reason, I feel my blood run cold.

"A-actually, my roommate will be here in a few-"

"Save it Kid, I've done my fair bit of research. But, you know, for safety reasons and all that other bologna that people make excuses for." I am quite literally shitting bricks. Did I just get involved with the mafia?

I see the man in the strange suit hold up his cane and point at me with it, "I know what you're thinking, and no, I don't come from any mafia." I don't even bother stifling a sigh of relief, "I am the Mafia, Kiddo. I mean, seriously, don't you know who I am? Kind of a big deal." I hear him say, almost miffed.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, "Listen man, I've been in Vale for not even a whole two months, so I'm sorry if I don't have the time to learn the name of every petty criminal in- Will you get out of my fridge!" I yell, watching as he digging through my fridge.

I watch the man shrug his shoulders, "Meh, I got a little thirsty while you were whining. You want something while I'm in here?"

"What, it's my fridge?"

"I wasn't talking to you." I hear the man respond, and with that, I see his eyes wander beside me. Alright, I'll bite.

I look over my shoulder and see a young lady at least a head shorter than me with Brown and Pink hair. "Oh fuck!" I yell as I nearly find myself hitting the floor.

I hear the sound of the man laughing as I manage to hold myself up with my hands against a nearby wall, "Holy Expletive, what the hell is this gremlin doing in my home?!"

"Hey, I'm no gremlin!" I hear the man yell.

"Wasn't talking to you!"

I see the Gremlin's shoulder sort of shake, almost as if she were laughing, but nothing comes out. Yep, if that's not a gremlin, I don't know what is.

I watch as she just shuts the door behind her and locks the door, am uh, am I gonna get mugged? I hear the sound of the man behind me cough, and I turn around to see him with a can of- hey that's my beer! "Listen kid," the sound of him opening the can resonates around the room, "I lent you money yesterday for your silence and uh, well, you haven't done any sort of tattling have you?" I hear him ask almost casually, and then he sips from my beer. "Ugh, this is garbage." I hear him say, and then he- don't throw out a full can of beer!

"What, no. Like I said, I don't even have a name to give, even if I said anything. Which you still haven't told me, by the way!" I yell, very frustrated by this situation.

"Oh come on Jack, is that how you talk to a friend who's lent you cash? Where's your sense of altruism?" I hear him ask, trying to sound hurt.

"Oh for fuck's sake." I mutter to myself as I drag a hand down my face. "Alright, what the fuck do you want? Kiss on the cheek? Rim job? Maybe a quickie? Point is, I really have better things to be doing right now."

"What, like sitting here and wacking off to Mistrali cartoons?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?! One time! It was One Time! I was 14 and hormonal! Not my fault!" I yell, taking both my arms and hitting my wall.

I see the man quirk a brow, but shake his head, "Alright, cool. So listen, I hear you got yourself this little meetup you street rats call a race, I've got some guys who've been hyping up this little rich kid who thinks he's hot shit with daddy's car."

"Who, Cole?"

"Yeah, that's the punk. So listen, I've got guys that have been hyping up his car, saying it can get up to 700 Horsepower, which you should know, is bullshit. So, all these guys are gonna bet on him, and I want you to win." I hear him say as he pulls a cigar out of his coat, along with a lighter.

"Woah woah woah, hang on just a second! I thought this meetup wasn't supposed to include any racing?" I ask, at least, that's what I was told!

I hear the strange man chuckle as he sticks the cigar in his mouth, "Oh it was, but that wasn't until your organizer had a, let's call it a change of heart. Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. He's going to be announcing the race when everyone meets up." I hear him say, almost smugly so.

I let out a sigh as I scratch the back of my head, "Normally I'd be all for a challenge, but you mean to tell me that big money's on the line this time? Like, more than just rent money?"

I watch him spark his cigar and take a drag, and then puff, ugh, I'm gonna have to spray air freshener later. "Kid, this is way more than just rent money. I'm talking _way _bigger."

"What, like, two months worth?"

"Eh, more like four… years."

"Holy hell in a hot engine that's a shit load of money." I mutter to myself, my eyes wide, I even feel a little bit of sweat drip down my neck.

I hear the man laugh with the cigar in his mouth, "Yeah, big money time, Jack. You gonna put the man pants on and race like your livelihood depends on it? Or are you gonna be a big ol' baby and lose out on a potential twenty grand?" I hear him ask, but something doesn't feel right.

I put a finger to my chin, and I feel as though numbers and equations are going by my head, "Wait a second, I thought that 4 years worth of rent was fifty grand?"

I hear the ginger haired man laugh again, "Ah, you're not one to be played are you? You see Kiddo, it is, but as your unofficial sponsor, I feel like 60% percent of the cut should go to me, and I'm being generous." And at that, I let out a breath.

"I mean, I don't think I'm in a particular place to argue with you on that. And I am in need of cash."

"Oh believe me, we know. A young and brash kid comes to the city in search of making his fortune, only to beat his boss' face into meat pudding. I mean, imagine how his wife felt about her poor hubby looking like that. You got one helluva swing kid, I'll give you that." I hear him say, a devilish smirk on his face as he takes another puff.

My eyes find themselves widening, "H-how'd you know about that?"

"Pfft, how couldn't we? You don't make it hard to find out."

For a moment, I find my throat to be a little drier than normal, and it's even harder to speak. But I build up the little courage I've got left after that whole exchange, "Alright, you got me, I'll do it." I say as I hold out my hand.

I see the orange haired man plaster a mile wide grin on his face, "That's good kid, that's real good. But didn't your parents ever tell you to not deal with the devil till you know his name? So go on, say my name." I hear him say.

This time, words elude me because I genuinely don't know his name, and I make that evident. I can even hear him let out a sigh, "Come on, Kid. I'll even help you, repeat after me. Ro…"

"...Ronald Mcdonald..?" I ask, and I watch his mile wide smile just drop, and hear something heavy hit the floor behind me. I turn around and find myself staring at the spasming Gremlin Girl, he shoulders shaking intensely as she smacks at the ground. Did I just induce a clown based PTSD attack?

I watch as she fishes out her scroll from her really, and I mean _really _snug pants, and she quickly starts typing away at it, and I hear a ding behind me, with Ronald over here staring at his Scroll. I hear him let out a groan, "Yes, Neo, I can see why that would be funny." I hear him say through gritted teeth, followed by another ding, "_Yes_, I know it's because of my hair and make-up."

I won't lie, even I snicker a little because of how annoyed ol' Ronny sounds, "I'm glad to see that your lady gremlin friend finds that so funny."

"Ooh, be careful, keep calling her such nice names and she might fall head over heels for you, Kiddo." I hear him say, clearly being sarcastic this time. And I know the Gremlin hasn't said a word this entire time, but I can _hear _her rolling her eyes.

At that, I shrug, "What can I say, Ronny? I have a very special way with treating the ladies."

I hear Ronny smack his lips, "Alright, you've had your fun Kiddo. The name's Roman, and don't you go forgetting that. And that Gremlin you so fondly speak of is Neo, and in case you can't tell, she ain't much of a talker."

"Pfft, good, that's how I like them."

I hear him let out a chuckle, "Woah now Mister, don't you go letting your, gosh how many was it? Seven! Don't you go letting your seven sisters hear that. Fuckin' hell, seven sisters? What were your parents, rabbits?" I hear him say, and at this point, I'm not even surprised. If he knows even that, then he knows it all. Is it an uncomfortable thought? Definitely. But am I surprised? Not in the slightest.

"Shit, I might have to tell them first. They're the ones that need to hear it the most."

I hear Roman let out a snicker as he makes his way over to my kitchen trash can and he flicks his cigar over it, getting rid of the excess ash. Well, at least he didn't put it on my table. "Alright kid, then I'll be waiting to hear of your victory. Well, Neo and I really must be going."

I feign some sense of shock, "What? Now? But you two just got here. Don't you wanna stay behind for a drink or two? Maybe raid my fridge a little more? Catch up like the old friends we are?" I ask sarcastically.

I see him step out of my Kitchen and towards the door, looking at Neo with a quirked brow. At that, Neo just shrugged, "Well Kiddo, sorry to say that we really must be going. Another time?" I hear him ask.

"Yeah yeah, I get it, work comes first and all that."

"Right, well Jack, good luck with the race. We'll be rooting for our money maker." I hear him say, and with that, he opens my apartment door and they both walk out, but before the door closes, I can see the Gremlin, Neo, give me a little wink. With that, the door closes.

I let out a breath and stumble into a chair, "Tell me Gramps, has life always been this scary?"

* * *

After that whole ordeal with that Roman guy and his Gremlin, Neo, I had a lot of time to think. Like, hours upon hours of time. I sat in my room with nothing but silence, thinking stuff along the lines of 'Oh god, what if I lose?!' or 'If I fail, will Roman go after my family?!' You know, normal stuff.

But, pushing aside my normal sarcasm, I'm genuinely terrified. I mean, a guy bribes you to find a certain room, and a couple of days later, comes back to you with practically all of your background information, who wouldn't be shitting bricks?!

I let out a groan as I drive through the empty, illuminated streets of night time Vale. "I wish I could have taken a nap or something before I had to go and pick up the guys. Wait, do I still call them 'the guys' if the majority of them are female?" I mutter to myself.

As I finish muttering to myself, I spot my two friends. Now that's all well and good, right? Well, it would be if there weren't three, _three_, other people with them! I thought there was supposed to be just one extra person?! I see that they've brought a red headed girl, a shorter girl with black and red hair, and some blonde chick with- holy fuck, are those tumors?! She could sustain a whole fuckin' village with those! On the bright side though, it seems the two extras brought their own ride.

As I pull up to the group in my car, I roll down the passenger side window, "Hey kids, you want some drugs?!" I yell out it an exaggerated drug dealer accent.

I watch as Nora stands up from the bench and drags Ren and some Red haired girl to stand up with her, and she drags them over to my car, "Jauney, what took you so long? We were about to start thinking you weren't going to show up!" I hear her say, peeking her head into my car.

At that, I shrug, "What can I say, I got a little caught up."

"Doing what? Wanking off to Mistrali Cartoons?" I hear Nora ask, oh come on! Seriously, three times in the last four days! I'm gonna fucking off myself if I hear it again within the next week! Is there a joke I'm not in on?!

I take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth, "Thank you Nora, very cool. No, I was picking up snacks, so you best be grateful." I say as I reach into the back and pull out a plastic bag, full of all sorts of goodies.

I can hear the blonde chick, who's leaning on her tricycle, say, "Wow, this guy already sounds like Weiss. Not too sure if that's a good thing."

At that, I roll my eyes, "Pfft, please, whoever this Weiss dude is, he wishes he sounded as good as I do. I've got the voice of a fucking angel." I say as I cross my arms.

I can see the shortest of them begin to giggle, as for why, I've got no clue. "Weiss is a girl, Jauney." I hear her say, and for some reason, I tense up in discomfort.

I let out a chuckle as I rub the back of my head, "Eheheh, the name's Jaune, not Jauney. Nora's the only one with the privilege to actually call me Jauney, but that's because she's been doing it since day one. Unless you're up to be more than friends?" I ask, jokingly.

I see the blonde girl wave her arms above her head, "Woah woah, fifteen!"

"Oh fuck! I just thought she was short! Sorry, forget I said anything. It's late and I'm tired, and _someone _didn't want to let me sleep. But anyway, I need names. So which of you is Pyrrha? I've been meaning to figure that one out for a few days."

I see the blonde girl tilt her head at that, "Wait, you don't know who Pyrrha is?"

"Wow, I don't know someone who I've never met? Imagine that! Who would have thought? I mean, seriously, just fucking baffling." I say as I lean further into my seat.

I watch the blonde girl deadpan at my statement, "Right, well I'm Yang, the short girl that nearly got you arrested is Ruby, and the wondergirl is Pyrrha."

At that, I hum in acknowledgement. But I've got to say, the whole uniform thing is really throwing me off. "Right, well that makes things easier. So, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, go ahead and hop in. As for you two, I want to say that you can take that scooter of yours, but for some reason, I don't feel comfortable with that."

I watch as Yang rolls her eyes, "Come on, I'm a great driver."

At that, I hear Ruby let out a nervous chuckle, "Yeah… great driver." Now, I see Ruby has a smile on her face, but for some reason, it doesn't feel very genuine. I don't know, call it a hunch, but I don't think Yang's that good of a driver.

As Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren pile into my car, I watch as Yang looks betrayed at her… friend? "Ruby, I trusted you!" I hear Yang scream out in anguish. Heh.

I watch as Ruby rushes over to my car window, and whispers very loudly, "Please, let me in the back, I don't want to ride with Yang again!"

At that, I smile a genuine smile, and it seems as though she's nearly relieved. That was, until I revved the engine, and it let out a few pops and bangs. "W-what are you doing?!" I hear her yell.

I let out a loud laugh, "Later losers!" and with that, we took off down the street, the sound of the engine popping and banging as we go down the street. Now, I won't lie, I'm cringing pretty hard, because holy shit are those pops and bangs _really _bad for the engine, but at the same time, they make me feel fast.

As I speed down the street, I get several different reactions from my lovely passengers, Nora is whooping and hollering, having the time of her life, Ren's holding on for dear life, and Pyrrha seems more conflicted than anything. Like she's having fun, yet shitting herself.

But something just kicks in for me, I take my right hand off the wheel and hold it out, "I completely forgot to introduce myself properly. My name's Jaune, I like long walks on the beach, and going fast, nice to meet you, Pyrrha." I say calmly, probably going somewhere around 85 Miles an hour, the sound of the engine nearly masking my voice.

"Ah, um, I'm Pyrrha! It's my first time going through anything like this, so I'd appreciate it if you would make this memorable for me!"

At that, I laugh, "Oh don't you worry, Miss, because I guarantee that after this, you'll never want to stop."

"Jaune, slow down!" I hear Ren yell.

"Ren, I built the fucking thing, I'm going to put it through its fucking paces! It needs to warm up as much as I do." I yell back.

I see quite the sharp right turn up ahead, and a massive smile makes its way onto my face. I quickly roll down the driver side window, bringing my car closer to the inside of the turn, flooring it on the brakes, swinging the car left, throwing the back end out. Then I swing it back right, letting go of the brakes, and let the pent up energy carry me through the turn, the smell of burning rubber filling the air, this rush of adrenaline overcoming me.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and I can't stress this next part enough, Haw!" I screamed my heart out, this, _this right here_ is what I look for in a good car! That kick of adrenaline! Although, all I hear around me is nothing but screaming. Eh, they'll be fine.

And so, with that, I filled the streets with the smell of burning rubber. Heheh, these guys are in for one helluva ride.

* * *

**Alright shitboots, let me know how you all felt about this Chapter. Bueno? Malo? You get the gist. Leave a review and let me know. I also failed to mention that the car our guy Jaune drives is a 1974 Toyota Celica Fastback, I don't know why, but I just kinda like it. Also, the Super Bowl's coming up here soon, personally, I hope both teams lose. Also, many thanks to my home shitstain, Luzifer, for being enough of a masochist to sit through this chapter with me. **

**Anyway, that's it for now. And don't go expecting me to put out chapters this often, I don't plan on spoiling you. Now get the fuck out of here, you beautiful bastards.**

**Oh, and don't go thinking you're gonna read through this and not see a discord link. Drop by if you're up for it, or don't, I'm comfortable with the cesspit I've got as is.**

**Muh Discord: /hEu4QQP**

_**Seriously though, drop by.**_


	3. Chapter 3: Of Cars and Criminals, Part 1

Only ten minutes have passed by and I'm already feeling great. So, when my lovely passengers and I got to the meetup spot, a massive empty Parking Lot that used to belong to this massive supermarket that went bankrupt. When we got here, Ren and Pyrrha decided to hurl, and Nora decided to bolt out of my car and start geeking out over all of the cars. Luckily for Ren and Pyrrha, they got out of my Car before hurling, so I won't have to strong arm them into cleaning my car. Totally should, though.

Although, we couldn't find Yang or Ruby for a while. But that was because they rolled up to the lot just now. So, here I stand, leaning against my car as I watch as a very... let's say displeased Yang and a very green-ish looking Ruby pull up to lot.

I watch as Yang pulls up her bike next to my car, and Ruby just sort of flops off the back of the bike, and I can hear her mutter, "Oh solid ground, how I've missed you." At that, I stifle a chuckle as Yang just pulls her off of the ground.

After pulling Ruby up, she walks over to me and starts poking at my chest, it hurts a little, "You absolute asshole!"

At that, I snicker, "Shut up baby, I know it." I say as I open up the driver side door and pull out a plastic bag of goodies that I bought earlier. "So anyway, where were you guys? You get lost or something?" I ask as I set the bag on the driver seat, and open up a bag of potato chips.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we did! Because _someone _didn't think to wait for us!" I hear her say as she pokes my chest, her nail digging into my chest.

I swat away her hand and quirk a brow, "What can I say? You should've gone faster." I say as I take a potato chip out of the bag in my hand and eat it.

"If I had gone any faster I would have rammed into the side of a fucking building! And believe me, I would know since I almost did!" I can hear her yell, and she grabs at my collar.

Alright, normally I wouldn't mind being this close to a girl that pretty, but when she's yelling in my face, the narrative tends to change. "Maybe if you didn't take turns like a grandma with that over bloated bike of yours, you could've kept up." I say as I try to swat away her hands this time around, but I'll admit, the chick's got a good grip.

As I stare at her, her grip not loosening, I notice her eyebrows shoot up, "You took a bunch of turns on purpose, didn't you?"

At that, I find something very interesting a couple of cars over, and it takes my undivided attention, "No…" I mutter, and man are those some really nice cars.

I feel her grip loosen on my collar and I can hear her say, "Yeah, well I'd like to see you handle just two wheels, punk!" I can hear her say, oh ho ho, is that a fucking challenge?

Ignoring her grip, I lean a little closer, "Is that right? Well I'd like to see you try on two more! So, how about this, you and I get together and do a little swap and run a course, how's that?!" I say in challenge, no way I'm taking shit like that from someone who drives an over glorified moped.

I watch as she quirks a singular brow this time, a smirk on her face, "Oh please, no way I'm trusting you with my baby." I hear her say.

"Hah, my car's worth more than the whole pile of parts you call a bike, Sugar Tits." I say, holding my head a little higher than before.

For a while, Yang and I just sit there making eye contact, before I hear her let out a sigh as she let go of my collar. "Man, nothing really gets under your skin, does it?" I can hear her ask, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Eh, not much does, just the way I was raised, I guess." I say with a shrug as I lean against my car, but from behind Yang, I see Ruby shoot up and dash past my car. Alright, this I've got to see.

As I look over my shoulder, I watch as Ruby rushes over to a car that's a bit different from the others. You see, most cars have their hoods open right now, but the one that Ruby's rushing to has its trunk open. From where I'm standing, it seems like she's asking tons of questions, not that I can really hear her over all of the other people talking.

As I take another look around, I see that Ren and Nora, along with Pyrrha, are just walking around the lot, looking at stuff they probably don't understand, and Ren's keeping Nora on a leash. Not literally, mind you. But plenty of people keep walking up to Pyrrha and keep having her sign stuff, which is weird, but whatever.

Well, they'll be fine, they're grown enough to handle themselves. "Alright, well I'm gonna go see what Ruby's up to, make sure Nora doesn't blow anyone's car up, because if she does, I'm not paying for it." I say to Yang as I start walking off towards Ruby.

As I begin to make my way closer to where Ruby is, I can hear her asking all sorts of questions like 'What does this do' or 'How does it work' and lastly, 'Shouldn't it go backwards if the engine is in the back?' That last one bugged me a bit, but I couldn't help but laugh at the innocence of the question. Well, I can't particularly blame her, it's not like she really knows what she's talking about. The person she's asking all of these questions is a man quite literally twice my age, dressed in no more than a topcoat, some slacks and a button up shirt, short brown hair atop his head.

"Alright, I'll speed through this. That's an engine, it spins around and makes the car move-"

"I dunno, seems pretty stationary." I could Ruby say, and I resist the urge to face palm.

"Big word for a little kid."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm fifteen and handle guns all day, I'm pretty mature for my age!" I hear her say as she crosses her shoulder.

Okay, time to intervene now. "Ah yes, the wonders of Child Soldiers, what a time to be alive." I say as I get closer, my hands shoved into my pockets.

"Well look at that, the Golden Boy decides to grace us with his presence. To what do we owe the honor, your majesty?" I can hear the older man say, with a fake bow.

"Ah, shut your hole, Raz. Haven't you got other things to be doing other than bitching at me for having a better car?" I say, waving him off.

"H-hang on, Golden Boy?" I hear Ruby ask, confused at what Raz, the fellow in the topcoat, called me.

I let out a sigh as I pull a hand out of my pocket and drag it down the side of my face, "Yeah, people call me that because of my Car."

"What's so special about your Car?" I can hear her ask, oh you sweet summer child, your innocence is your greatest strength and weakness.

"Well, that's because my car was made before the Great War, back when gas was still used in Cars, so some people consider it pretty rare." I say casually, waving my hand to the side.

But as I finish saying that, I see Ruby rush towards me at inhuman speeds, and she grabs me by- what the hell is it with people grabbing my collar today?! "You mean to tell me that your car was made before Dust was open for public consumption?! But that would mean it's-"

"More than 80 years old, yes. Jeez, I get that we're outside, but when we're this close, it's best to use your inside voice." I say as I place my hands on her shoulder and push her away as gently as I can, there's no way in hell that I'm gonna catch a case.

"But Jaune, Gas is so much more expensive than powering your car with dust! How can you even afford that?!" I hear her yell, and she almost doesn't even notice me trying to push her back, and I can feel my ears start to ring.

"Well, an old friend of my Gramps runs this company that still runs an oil refinery, so he sells the stuff to us at a cheaper rate because of how well he and Gramps know each other." I say off-handedly.

I can feel Ruby let go of my collar and she steps back, "But wait, Dust would still be cheaper to use. Why not just use a dust engine?" I can hear her ask, I can feel a vein in my head begin to pulse.

"Because Dust Engines are _fucking stupid!_ They don't make any fucking sense! You can't just throw a solid fucking crystal into an engine and expect it to work, if you grind it up, it needs a lubricant, but if sneeze around it, hell if you just breathe wrong around it, it might blow up! I wouldn't be surprised if it went off if you just looked at it funny! _So, _let's do some science."

"Uh, Jaune?"

"Saliva is 98 Percent water, with various other things being the other 2 percent, so let's just assume that Dust doesn't mix with water, right?"

"Jaune, where are you going with thi-"

"Well, if that's true, then water can't be a lubricant for a dust engine, not that it should be anyway, but at that point, you could ask 'why not just use oil', but if you use oil, then what's the difference in using normal gas?! It doesn't make any fucking sense!"

"Jaune, you're ranting!" I hear Ruby yell, and I feel most of that anger just sort of pass away.

"Huh, what's going on?"

"You got lost in rant, Jaune. You sound like you _really_ don't like dust." I can hear her say, what gave it away?

"I'm… not particularly a fan. But that's more because of that one time in Chemistry class where I dropped some dust at my feet and it set off, and let's just say that the hospital bill wasn't cheap." I say as I rub the back of my head, not exactly my fondest memory.

However, as I rub the back of my head, I hear the sound of loud and obnoxious music getting closer and closer to the lot, and this modern car pulls into the lot. Very rounded, black tinted windows, and the spoiler on it looks like it doesn't belong. As this car pulls into the lot, the dickhead driving it decides to be twice as obnoxious and just burns out after pulling in. Dude, that's fucking loud.

A watch as the car pulls up next to mine, and I let out a groan. Every fucking meetup, seriously, every time. "Alright, let's get this over with." I say as I march away from Ruby and Raz and make my way over to my car, taking slow, yet quiet deep breaths.

However, as I get closer, I watch as this figure steps out the car, a very visible fake tan, shortly cut dirty blonde hair, slightly muscular, wearing a white collar shirt, the collar popped, and jean shorts… Yep, jean shorts. I mean, there's having terrible fashion sense, and then there's this, I mean, it's bad. "Hey, Jaune! You look, uh, you look good, man, how've you been?" I hear him say, and I take another deep breath.

"Hey Cole, you sure haven't changed all that much since the last meet up." I say, now standing next to my car, trying to sound at least indifferent.

I watch Cole shrug, a mile-wide smile on his face, "Nah, you know me, still the same old Cole!" I hear him say with a laugh, unfortunately, he seems to be right. "But yeah, Bro, when are you gonna sell me your car? It seems like a nice conversation starter to have hanging from my roof."

I scoff at that, "Hah, in your dreams, maybe. Ain't no way in hell that I'm selling you my baby." I say as I cross my arms, leaning against the side of my car.

I can see Cole place one hand on his hip, the other on his chin, "Hmm, how about this? You and I are racing tonight anyway, I'm sure you've heard-"

"Oh, I did." I force out through gritted teeth.

"And since your car is so old fashioned, I say we bet like guys did in the old days. How about it, Jaune, you up to race for pinks?" I hear him ask, a smirk on his face, and confidence oozing from him, the only thing on him more would be the excess body spray. And for some reason, I hear nearly all of the sounds I'd been hearing in the background stop, you could hear a pen hit the asphalt and it would echo through the streets of Vale.

I can feel my eye involuntarily twitch, "Pfft, I don't want your piece of shit car. You probably haven't even taken the training wheels off the thing." I spat out, not even trying to mask my anger anymore.

I hear the sounds of people 'ooh'-ing, and honestly, I couldn't care less. But what I do care about is the fact that Cole seems a bit pissy, "Alright you fucking bumpkin-"

"That's a new one." I mutter.

"If you don't want my car, cool. If you beat me in this race, I'll get you whatever the hell car you want, and you know I'm good for it." I hear Cole, and I'll admit, he is pretty good for it, considering the fact that he's the son of a wealthy man.

I click my teeth, slightly annoyed more than anything, "Fine, I'll race you for pinks, but don't go crying to me when I beat you. Last thing I need to hear is that sound of you crying." I spat out.

The silence of the lot is broken by the sound of a loud tapping noise, and I turned to see it, finding myself staring at the organizer with a mic in hand, "Alright alright, shut the fuck up, Assholes! We've just got confirmation that the coast is clear, and you know what that means, don't you boys?!" I could hear the Organizer yell into his mic, and the sounds of hooting and hollering emanated from all around the lot.

I can feel someone sort of tug at my hoodie, and as I look back, I see Ruby staring up at me, "Uh, what's going on now?" I hear her ask, somewhat confused.

At that, I chuckle to myself, "Well Ruby, what that means is that the games are about to begin. Pull a chair, grab some snacks, and watch the show." I say as I pull open the driver side door and nod at it for her to take a seat.

I watch as Ruby, still confused, takes a seat looking out towards the lot. However, as we both sit here, we watch as two cars pull out of the lot and on to the road and- hang on, is that a Zupra?! I quickly yank out my scroll and send a desperate text to Ren, _"Dude, bring Nora and Pyrrha to my car, you've got to see this."_ And with that, I sent the text.

I shit you not, the second I sent the text, I heard the sound of some tapping on the side of my car, and I turned to see Ren with both Nora and Pyrrha, and it looks like he dragged them along, "You called?"

Now, I won't lie, I sort of want to shit bricks and ask how he got here so fast, but that's not as important as the original purpose, "Ren, buddy, look at the cars lining up." I quickly say, as giddy as a guy can be, and I turn back to the cars lining up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ren squint his eyes and lean forward a bit, "...Is that a Zupra?" I hear Ren mutter, and I watch rub his eyes a bit.

However, as Ren finishes asking his question, I can hear Nora gasp very loudly, "IzataZupra?!" I can hear Nora yell, practically jumping at the sight of it. Shit, even Pyrrha, someone who I don't even know all too well, looks somewhat surprised.

"Is that a Zupra?" I hear her ask, pleasantly surprised.

"You know what a Zupra is?" I ask, a little surprised myself, she didn't seem like the kind of chick that would know what a Zupra is. Color me surprised.

"Yes, my Dad used to own one before he started to raise a family. He still talks about it rather fondly." I hear her say, a small smile on her face.

At that, I shrug, "Yeah, well, kinda hard to raise a family with just two doors." I say, the cars on the road letting out all sorts of pops and bangs, "Look look, they're staging!" The guy in the Zupra burning out to heat up its tires, unleashing an unholy amount of tire smoke, and you could almost see this dull orange hue from under the car.

"Guys, what's a Zupra?!" I could hear Ruby yell over the sound of screeching tires, I mean, coming from the person who didn't know what part of the engine was engine, I'm not surprised.

"Ruby, you don't understand, it's a Zupra!"

"But, what's a Zupra?!"

"Shh, just watch!" I say, and this guy standing in the middle of the road holds up his hand, and in his hand seems to be a flashlight, shit man, I can't tell, it's fucking dark. But what I can tell is that as he held up his hand, the sound of the Zupra's inline six filled the air, and I could feel each one of the pops reverberate through my chest. "Oh yeah, there's the testosterone!"

However, out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ruby go to cover her ears, I take hold of her wrist with one hand and wag my index finger with the other, "Hang on for another second, Ruby. Magic's about to happen." I say, and as I turn back, I can see the man in between both cars light his flashlight, and both cars launch past him, slingshotting themselves down the street as the sounds of the Zupra's screaming engine filled the air.

I hear the sound of Nora hooting and hollering as the cars shoot down the street, "Yep, I knew it, that's a Zupra!" I hear her yell, and at that, I laugh.

I look back at Ruby to try and gauge her reaction, but it's kind of hard to tell what she's feeling, it's like she went into shock or something? I wave my hand in front of her, trying to get her attention, "Hey Ruby, you feeling alright?" I ask, and I'm starting to feel a little concerned. First, that time that I caused Roman's gremlin to have a clown based PTSD attack, and now this.

She doesn't even seem phased by me waving at her though, but I can hear her mutter something, "I get it now, _that's _a Zupra." The awe in her voice making me stifle a giggle.

"Yes Ruby, that's a Zupra."

* * *

So, for give or take 2 and half hours, my lovely Passengers and I spent our time watching the Dig Races go on, loud cars going vroom is a very special time of the month for me. I don't get to enjoy this sort of thing often, but when I do, I make sure to make some fucking room for it.

Man, I've really got to work on how much I swear, because I think it might be coming off as unprofessional. I shrug to myself as I watch another pair of cars shoot down the road, the sound of screeching tires and screaming engines fill the lot, and the best part, it never gets old.

So yeah, I'm here leaning against the side of my car, Ruby's sitting in the driver side seat with a bag of snacks, Nora's sitting on the trunk with Ren standing next to her, and Pyrrha's leaning against my car next to me, all in all, I feel pretty comfy. But after a second, something clicks with me, "Hey uh, hey Ruby?" I look over my shoulder, and I see that Ruby's a little stuffing her face with chips.

"Hmm, yesh Jaune?" I hear her say, still eating, please don't talk with your mouth full.

"So… Where did Yang go again?" I ask, it's not like I'm concerned or anything like that, but to say that I'm curious would be a better term.

I watch as Ruby stuffs another handful of Chips into her mouth with one hand as she just points towards the road that people have been racing on with the other, and as I follow her finger, I find myself staring at something curious. Yang decided to go out there on her over glorified moped. "Well, I'll be a son of a bitch." I let slip from my mouth.

Suddenly, I feel Ruby slap my shoulder, I don't remember ever being close enough to you on an emotional sense to allow you to hit me, "Language." I hear her chastise, I'm sorry?

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion, "What? But you were totally cool with it earlier?" I say in confusion, and wow did that sound whiny!

I can see Ruby quirk a brow at me, "That's because we weren't all together having a good time, and the last time you sweared, at least directly around me, was when you were ranting about Dust Engines and how you thought they didn't make sense." I can hear Ruby say.

I can hear Ren let out a chuckle, "Yes, Jaune does occasionally enjoy going on long winded tirades about how he believes that Dust Engines don't and shouldn't work, despite their very evident functionality." I can hear Ren say, almost monotone, but with a sense of amusement.

"Yeah, well I'd like to hear you explain how those stupid fucking things work- ow, Ruby! Stop hitting me!" I yell, trying to swat away Ruby's hands.

"Stop swearing then!"

"No, I refuse! It's a part of who I am, and I refuse to let it be stripped from me by some fifteen year old Child Soldier!" I yell as I swat away her outstretched hands. However, as Ruby and I were having our little back and forward, I felt yet another hand swat at my shoulder, but this time my left.

I look to my left and see that it was Pyrrha that swatted me this time, and I feel a little trapped, I'm fighting a war on two fronts, "She's not a child soldier, she's going to be one of the next heroes of the future-"

"Thank you!" I can hear Ruby say.

"The fact that she's only fifteen means that she's just going to be starting two years earlier than most Hunters. Now if she were to start right now, then you would be right." I can hear Pyrrha, and honestly, I can't tell whose side she's on.

However, before I can even retort, I can hear the sound of this old Muscle Car that Yang's racing against, an old Koda, almost if not little older than my car, staging on the road. As the Koda stages, I can feel the ground beneath me begin to tremble, and it's then that I hear Yang's over glorified moped do the same, and she lines up with the old Koda, but in comparison to the Koda, her Bike certainly does sound like a moped.

I'll be honest, it's not often that I see someone try to race a Motorcycle against a Car, but this'll surely be somewhat interesting, right? I watch the Flagger between both the Kuda and Yang's bike raise his hand, in his hand, a flashlight yada yada, you heard it all before.

But before I could even blink, I watch the flashlight go on and Yang takes off in her bike, and the Koda launches behind her, and if sounds could shatter the sky, that Koda would've started Armageddon on its own. Yang takes the lead for a bit, shooting past where the rest of us were sitting, but it didn't take long for the Koda to catch up to her until it eventually passed her.

For a second, Yang and the Koda were neck and neck, but the Koda shot past her and reached the end of the racing area, both of them slowing down and turning back to the lot. After a minute, I watch as Yang enters the lot and hops off her bike, leaving her helmet on her seat.

Uh, I should go check on her, just to be safe. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go check on Yang for a minute, just to see what's going on." I say as I push myself off of my car. "Ren, make sure Ruby doesn't eat all of the snacks, and make sure Nora doesn't break anything on my car."

"Sure thing Jaune, but uh, proceed with caution. Yang is known at Beacon for her… temper, let's say." I hear Ren say, his words not falling on deaf ears.

With that, I walk away from my car and make my way towards Yang, who's leaning against her bike, her arms crossed. However, as I slowly get closer, I notice this older fella walk up to her, sort of on the shorter side, long, white beard, bald head, flannel shirt, the works. I can see them talking, but I can't particularly hear anything from where I'm standing.

Although, as I get closer, I can hear the older fella say, "Thought 'cha had me there for a bit, didn'tcha Girly?" I hear him ask as I get closer, this sort of country twang in his voice.

"I'll say this much, Old Timer, you're fast." I can hear Yang, almost monotone, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little off put by that.

"Comes with experience, Girly. Don't 'cha worry though, you'll get better at it with time. But I just wanted to swing by and say that it was a good little race that you gave me." I hear him say, and I can see Yang's brows shoot up a bit.

"Uh, yeah, nice race Old Timer." I can hear Yang say, not even trying to mask her surprise.

At that, I hear the older fella laugh, "Ehyeheh, well, I should be getting back home, it's past muh bedtime. And the Missus don't know I'm out here playing with you youngsters, so I'd best be off. Gotta get up early for church." I hear him say, almost jovially so. How can one old fella be so jovial at this point in the day? If it were Gramps, he'd be fuck-ass mad about anything and everything.

Although, as he's about to turn away to get in his old Koda, I see him look at me kinda funny, and then back at Yang, "Say Girly, who's that feller over there? He yer Brother or something?"

"Huh, oh no, I just met him today with my Sister." I hear her say, woah, Pyrrha's her sister? Crazy.

I see the old fella quirk a brow as he looks back at Yang, then back at me, and repeats this process a couple of times, "He yer fling or somethin'?"

"_Okay_, I'm stepping into the conversation now." I say as I quite literally step into the conversation, "Listen sir, if I'm gonna tell you the truth, I've got no interest in chasing tail when there's work to be done." I say as I cross my arms.

"What, are you saying I'm not interesting?" I hear Yang say, a hand on her hip.

"No, I'm not saying that you're not interesting, I'm just saying that I'm not Interested."

"What? How can someone be interesting but you can't be interested?"

"Well, you know, it's like eating snails. While it's certainly interesting, I'm not interested in trying it."

"...Did you just compare me to a snail?"

"Ah... fuck."

But as Yang and I were bickering, I could hear the Old Timer just let out a laugh, "You know, son, you remind me of this ol' friend of mine from way back when. He was a grumpy bastard, but a good friend of mine back in the ol' days. You look a lot like him too, now that I think 'bout it." I hear the old fella say with a weird far away look in his eye, a hollow smile on his face.

"I don't know, Mister, maybe it's just a coincidence. I look like a lot of folks, or so I'm told." No one ever says I look like someone.

"Only one way to find out, son. I'm Keith, what're yer names, Son, Girly?" I hear him ask, a toothy smile on his face with plenty of missing teeth.

"Keith? Not a name you hear much anymore." I mutter, before feeling an elbow drive into my side, and I glare at Yang out of the corner of my eye, not that she's paying attention.

"Hehehe, yep, I was born during' the Great War, 'fore that silly Color Rule got put in place. It still boggles my noggin as for why they made it in the first place!" I hear him say, but Yang goes to cut him off before he could go on a rant.

"Well, I'm Yang, Old Timer, and he's Jaune, ignore his bad attitude, he's just sexually repressed."

"Oh up yours, I get all the action I need."

"Your hand doesn't count, dude."

"Oh fuck you."

"Ha, in your dreams, maybe." I hear Yang say, propping her head up a bit with her closed fist.

"Hehyehehe, look at the two of you, barely known each other for a day and bickering like an old married couple. Ah, youth." I hear him say, and I nearly feel the urge to vomit. Not because Yang's not pretty or anything, but because Marriage sounds terrible and nauseating.

I look out of the corner of my eye and see Yang point a finger towards her open mouth, making a choking noise in disgust. "I've known this guy for less than a day and the thought of being stuck with him for the rest of my life makes me wish that I hadn't heard that." I hear her say, but it doesn't really sound like she means it, but more of a joke.

"Glad to hear that that makes two of us. The thought of being around someone so stimulating feels like it would give me a stroke." I say with a roll of my eyes, and I notice Yang quirk a brow, a smirk.

"Stimulating, huh?" I hear her ask, teasingly. I-I didn't mean it like that.

"Don't take my words out of context. You make my mind race a mile a minute, if only to find a way out of being in situations, kind of like this one." I say with a sigh, the last thing I need is a misunderstanding.

I hear Keith let out another chuckle, "Well Young Man, I don't suppose you've got an Old Man with the last name 'Arc', do ya?" I hear, and at that, my brows shoot up.

"Uh, yes sir, how'd you figure?"

"Bah, yer Old Man used to talk about you when we still worked together in the Industry! Why, that was nearly twenty years 'go now!" I hear Keith say, but something makes me scratch my head.

"Wait, what industry? Gramps always worked as a mechanic." I say, not even bothering to hide my confusion.

I see that toothy grin on Keith's face drop, his brows slightly furrowed, "Ah, so yer Old Man hasn't gotten over it just yet. I see. Well, Young Man, whenever you've got the chance, ask yer Old Man what he did for work before you came around. If he don't tell ya, here's my card, and you and I can talk." I hear him say as he fishes through his pockets, and out of his pocket comes a card.

For a moment, I just sort of stand quietly, I-I don't get it. But after a moment, I hear Keith speak up, "Well, Son, you gonna leave an Old fellow hanging?" I hear him say, a hollow smile on his face.

With that, I snap out of my confusion for a moment and take the card into my hand, and as I turn it over and look at the name, I see it say "Keith Samson", and as I flip it to the back, it shows "Samson's Oil" and my eyes nearly bulge out of my head, and as I look up from the card, I see that Keith is already in his car and driving off.

For a moment, I'm speechless, Keith's the guy my Gramps' is getting oil from! But more importantly, why is he at this Car Meet of all things?! Oh God, what if he tells Gramps?! But as I'm struggling with my internal panic, I feel something tap me on the shoulder, and I look over to see Yang looking at me kinda funny.

"Hey, uh… Are you doing alright? You sorta went quiet for a minute there just staring at that card. Was that something I wasn't supposed to hear?" I hear her ask, a little concerned.

I shake my head as I stare back at her, "Nah, it's nothing. Just… It's a family thing. And since when did we know each other long enough for you to be asking questions like that?" I ask with a chuckle, trying to bring the mood back.

Although, my joke falls on deaf ears, "No, I get it. Family issues, everyone's got them, but uh, I get it." I hear her say, a sour look on her face.

At that, I let out a sigh, "Well, no point in standing around here, let's go back to the lot." I say, shoving my hands into my hoodie pockets and start walking back to the lot.

"Yeah, not a bad idea. But uh, well I'm sorry, you know?" I hear her say as she walks next to me, wheeling her Bike next to her.

"What for? You didn't do anything."

"No, it's more like I'm sorry I heard something I shouldn't have. I know it would mess with me if someone started talking about family issues when someone else was around." I hear her say.

"Pfft, it's not _that _big of a deal. It's just something I hadn't heard of before, and it's probably nothing. More likely than not, Keith was just hyping up a story from the old days." I say with a deep breath, trying to calm myself a bit.

I hear Yang hum in acknowledgement at that, and as we make our way into the lot, I watch a red bullet wiz between Yang and I, and I find myself jumping a bit before feeling something grab onto my shoulder, and suddenly Ruby's between us, what in the cinnamon toast fuck?!

"Yang, that was amazing! You went faster on your bike than with me and my semblance!" I hear Ruby yell into our ears, hanging off of our shoulders.

"Thanks Sis, but I still lost." I hear Yang say with a shrug. Now hang on just a second, let's take three steps back… Sis?

"Hold on now, you're siblings?"

"Huh, yeah. Couldn't you tell?" I hear Ruby ask, and at that, I deadpan.

I look Yang in the eye and then look her up and down, and then follow do the same with Ruby, "I don't see the resemblance."

I can see Ruby cover her chest with her arms, her eyes wide, and I can see Yang give me a funny look, "You know, if I were less, more petty woman, I could have taken you to court with Ruby as witness, you know that right?"

"I'm a guy, sue me. Actually, don't do that, I need that money to pay off the mafia."

However, before either Yang or Ruby can retort, I can hear the sound of someone tapping on a mic. Again. "Alright boys, place your bets now because it's time for the main event!" I hear the organizer say through his Microphone.

I take a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, "Well, it's showtime." And with that, I march off

* * *

**Alright fuckers, here's your new chapter, it only took me a week and a half to make this sumbitch, and I put down six thousand words, which is a good chunk of words for me. So, do all the fun stuff, follow, favorite, all that dumb shit.**

**Now, to get into the meat and potatoes, fun stuff will be happening soon, and I'm certain that some of you will at least enjoy it. Now, let's talk Cars: Cole has an Audi TT, Ol' Keith's driving himself a Cuda, and Raz drives a lovely '93 NSX, an the Namelessly Driven Zupra was, you guessed it, a Supra. All lovely cars in their own right.**

**Well, that's all I've got for now, many thanks to my main cumstain Luzifer for sitting through this with me and slinging ideas back and forth, you're a real champ. ****_This is the part where I'd self-advertise, but I've got nothing to advertise, and I'm not a cunt. _****So yeah, have a lovely whenever. Ciao, cunts.**

**_And seriously, join my discord, none of you fuckers have come to say hello yet and I'm starting to think that I'm not as charismatic as I think myself to be._** **_Also, just hit 69 Follows, nice._**

**Muh Discord: /hEu4QQP**


	4. Chapter 4: Of Cars and Criminals, Part 2

As I sat in my car, I took a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, "I've got this. I've got this. I've got this." I muttered to myself, my hands shaking as I held on to the steering wheel, that pre-race adrenaline is really kicking my ass. But that's not that big of a deal, just gotta wait it off.

This race will just like any other, just something to pass the time and have a bit of fun. The only difference between this race and all the others is the fact that my car's on the line, along with my livelihood, but that's not that big of a deal, right? Yeah, there's nothing to it.

Although, despite all of the things I'm trying to say to hype myself up, I can't help but feel an inkling of a doubt. I mean, sure, Cole's not a crazy good racer, but he's far from a bad racer, and his car could more than make up for his faults. I can't help but let out a groan as I drag a hand down my face, "Dammit Jaune, you just had to open your bigass mouth. You fucking dumbass."

I let my head slump onto the steering wheel as I let out a sigh. Oh well, if I win then I can send Gramps some cash and live the good life for a few months, if I lose, well then that's that, I'll be out of a car, possible income, and eventually, a home. As my head rests on the steering wheel, I find my eyes wandering towards the glovebox.

I let out a breath and reached over to the glovebox, opening it to find a notebook, along with a small piece of paper pinned to it with the help of a paperclip. I pulled out the notebook and unpinned the small piece of paper and turned it around, showing an image of when I was a kid, around six or seven.

As I stared at the photo, I took in every detail. In the image, I was wearing a little pair of jean overalls, my oversized pumpkin pete hoodie peeking out, if only barely, and next to me was Gramps, his hair a stark white, barely peeking out from under his fishing hat, wearing an identical pair of jean overalls. I tried to imitate Gramps in everything I did back then. Gramps looked a lot more spry back then, he stood a little taller too. But it was what Gramps and I were standing by that really jogged some memories.

Gramps and I, in the photo, were standing by this old rolling chassis that would come to resemble my car in later years, and I couldn't help but find myself smiling, "Damn, it's really been that long, huh?" I asked, following it up with a chuckle, "Where did those years go?"

As I held the picture in my hand, I could hear the sounds of an engine revving next to me, and could see Cole being annoying, despite the black-tinted windows he's got. I let out a breath and I grabbed the paperclip from off of the notebook and pulled down the visor, clipping the photo onto it. What can I say, it's my good luck charm.

For a moment, my eyes lingered on the photo, but my attention was quickly caught by something, or rather, someone else. As I stared at the photo, I heard the sound of someone tapping on the passenger side window, and I rolled down the window, finding myself staring at Nora, a dopey grin on her face.

I let out a breath as I rolled down the window, Nora still tapping on the glass as it went down, until there was no glass left. "Jauney, you know how you're about to race now, right?" I hear her ask, as much as I love Nora's company, she has a way with words that makes me contemplate why humanity as a species still exists.

I deadpanned, "Yes, Nora, I am well aware of the fact that I am going to race. Why do you ask?" I said, a little confused as for why she would bother asking something so redundant.

As I watched her, I saw as she leaned forward, poking her head through the window, "Let me ride shotgun as you race!" I could hear her yell, and at that, I smiled.

"Ha, no."

"Aw, why not? You already know you're going to win! Why else would I put all of my money on you?!" I heard Nora whine.

"I don't know, I feel like you'll just slow me down." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"...Jauney, we're going to have to talk about your lack of self awareness when it comes to you talking to women."

"What do you mean?"

I can hear Nora sigh as she puts a hand on her cheek, "You can't just call a girl heavy and _not _expect them to get up in arms about it."

"But Nora, you are heavy! Have you seen the shit you're packing?! You look like your back is in constant pain!"

"I'll have you know that it is." I hear her say, tilting her head up with a bit of pride.

"Are… are you proud of that?"

"Yes, yes I am. Because most girls don't get back pain like I do."

I find myself at a loss for words as I stare out Nora, puffing her chest out a bit, I don't get it. "Well, I guess we know where all the pancakes are going."

I can see Nora's expression change to something a bit more annoyed, "Jauney, could you stop insulting my weight at focus on your stupid race now. I'd tell you that I hope you lose, but I've got all my savings on the line, so when you win, _and believe me, when you win, _you and I are going to have a long conversation about putting a filter on what you say." I could hear her say, and for some reason, I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

At that, I forced out a chuckle, "Right… Wait, I thought you said that you weren't betting all of your savings?!" I said, look I'll be honest, I just want to get Nora out of my hair at this point.

I could hear Nora let out a giggle, "I lied, good luck with the race Jauney. And remember-"

"Yeah, yeah, you've got a lot of money on the line." I say with a sigh.

"Well, I was going to say to keep a level head, but if you want to make me seem like some kind of hussy that's out for money, that's fine too." I could hear Nora say with a laugh. "Alright, but seriously, good luck." I could hear her say, her voice devoid of any humor as she looked me in the eye.

At that, I couldn't help but smile, "Thanks Nora. Now get the hell out of here, I got a race to win." I say, following it with a chuckle. With that, I watch her back away from my car with a wave as she makes her way back to the group, each of them sitting in a foldout chair.

Now alone, I take a deep breath, the shaking in my hands ceasing, in through the nose, out through the mouth. As I stare forward, the only thing I see is street lamps and an empty street that feels like it goes on forever. You know, if I were a smarter man, I'd think it were philosophical in some sense. Like, the street ahead of me is some kind of road of life or some shit, and the car I'm driving is the choices I've made so far.

But no, I'm not a smarter man, I'm not a philosopher, I'm not anything like that. No, I'm something much less scholarly, I'm a driver, and what I do is much more simple. As I stare ahead, I watch as a sharply dressed man walks in between Cole's car and mine, and with a smile on his face, I see him gesture for us to roll down our windows.

As he steps towards our cars, I can see him clasp his hands together in front of him, "Gentlemen, you are both aware of the stakes of this race, correct?" I hear him say, a mile-wide grin on his face, you know, this reminds me of a quote from Gramps, something about not trusting a man in a suit with a toothy grin. They'll rob you blind.

At this, I hear Cole laugh from his car, "What stakes? There's no way as though I'm going to lose to that piece of shit." I hear him say as he thumbs at my car.

I take a breath through as I nod my head, okay, "You know, I was just about to say the same thing about you." I say as I turn my head towards the road, you know, he's hit three strikes tonight. He's insulted my car, tried to buy my car, and did I forget to mention that he's insulted my car _again?_

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the sharply dressed fellow smirk to himself as he raises an open, empty hand. At that, I push in the clutch with my left foot and pull on the emergency brake, I take my right foot and apply a bit of force to the gas pedal, the sound of my engine revving being overshadowed by Cole's, but that's just because Cole's a jackass and straight-piped his car.

I watch as the man in the middle raises his other hand, and in it, a flashlight. The sound of people hooting and hollering filling my ears, and as I look out of the right corner of my eye, I can see that Nora has her hands around her mouth, now keep in mind that I can't hear her because of several reasons, but I think I get the message.

My eyes dart back towards the road, and out of the corner of my eye, I see the flashlight in the dapperly dressed fellow light up, and with that, I let go of the e-brake and let go of the clutch and I shot forward, feeling myself sinking into my seat. As the feeling subsides a slight bit, a quick glance at the tachometer shows around 7,000. Right as it touches 8,000, I let go of the gas, quickly press in the clutch, slam that shifter into second, and get right back on the gas.

As I speed down the street, Cole speeding ahead of me, I feel the world almost warp and change around me, street lamp lights being just streaks in the air and street lights looking like strobe lights as we speed past them. I know I won't be able to keep up with Cole's car on straights, his car is too much of an unhinged beast for that, but lucky for me, there's quite a few lovely turns up ahead.

With the speed I'm going at, I quickly shift into third as the turn comes into sight, and a little part of me is screaming to shift into fourth, but it just ain't the right time. Not yet. With the corner fastly approaching, I shift over to the outside of the turn behind Cole. Just as I start to close in behind him, I watch as he starts to hit the turn and his car starts to rotate, but I watch as his wheels start to lock up and he understeers the turn.

I saw an opening on the inside of the turn, but I can't take advantage of it to punish Cole because my car can't power into it. By the time I'm starting to close in on it, Cole blocks me from getting on the inside. Next turn comes up, and I'm still riding his tail, we hit the turn and he's still blocking the inside as much as he can.

At this point, I'm annoyed. The last turn of this section comes up and as I go full attack, I force myself next to him and we're at a point where I can look him in the eye as we drive. However, that doesn't last as I can hear his engine get louder and he shoots ahead when the tires grab. The way it's looking, it seems as though I'm just standing and he's striding away, and it's a little embarrassing, I'll admit, but there's a sharp left turn up ahead, he'll choke for sure.

I watch as Cole, now fairly ahead of me, slows for the turn a bit and hits it pretty alright, and I follow suit, quickly kicking the clutch, and I feel the back end of the car loosen up, and put in a little maintenance gas while holding the countersteer, pointing the wheels where I want them to take me.

With that, I ease through the turn and gas through it, putting me close behind him. But once again, I find myself being left on the straight, and no amount of skill or technique can help me right now, his car's power and grip are too much right now, but lucky for me, there's another really tight turn up ahead, and this one is one that he's going to fast for.

As I chase behind Cole, the tail lights of his car leaving streaks of light in their wake, I watch as he closes in on the turn, but he's not slowing down, if anything, it looks like he's going faster, and just as he gets closer, he swerves into the turn, all of his tires leaving smoke in their wake as he- he four wheel drifted through it! When did he learn to do that!?

I feel a drop of sweat go down the back of my neck and the world feels like it comes to a standstill, Cole's never done that sort of thing before, but it looks like he's been practicing. But now I've got to hope that he actually hasn't gotten too much better, because if he has, then I'll lose for sure.

With that, I shake my head, my hair flicking against my forehead, "Now's not the time for that, if he's gotten so much better, then I'll just have to one-up him!" I yell to myself as I place a hand on the handbrake, and just as I start closing in on the turn, I lightly pull on the handbrake, just enough to bring me to a skid, and steer into the turn, only to then countersteer so as to keep me skidding. The sound of tire screeching fills my ears, the feeling of my heart pounding in my chest, my eyes filled with streaks of light, this is what I've been waiting for, this rush!

As I make my way halfway through the turn, I floor the gas pedal and power through the rest of the turn, putting me on the straight behind Cole, and by quite the fair margin. I watch as his car shoots ahead, now unrestrained by tight corners and sharp turns, and as he shoots ahead, I watch as he flickers his hazard lights.

"...That motherfucker, he's taunting me. Okay, okay…" I mutter to myself as I put more force on the gas and switch into fourth gear, trailing behind Cole, but no matter how hard I floor the gas, he just keeps trailing away.

Although, as we wizz down the desolate and empty highway, out of the corner of my eye, I see the illuminated form of Night Time Vale, concrete Skyscrapers reaching beyond the clouds, the moon reflecting off the windows of certain buildings. For a moment, I find myself nearly breathless, there's just something so captivating about it.

But after a moment, I shake my head, bringing me back to my senses, "Not the time to be sight-seeing, Jackass." I mutter as I pull my foot off the gas for just a second, and I slam into fifth gear. I'm nearly hitting redline and Cole's _still _pulling away, putting him a couple street lights ahead of me.

With the highway exit fastly approaching, I watch as Cole makes his way off of the highway, but as he comes up to the next turn, he tries do that trick he did earlier, but instead of just powering through it like he did last time, his wheels lock up on him and he's on a direct course for a lamp post. "...What a fucking idiot. Was last time a fluke, or is he just messing with me?" I mutter to myself. Of course, he doesn't actually hit it, his brakes saving him from a bad wreck, but he's lost most of his momentum.

With that, I take advantage of the opening he's left me, taking my foot off the gas and slam my foot onto the break, and slam forward into my seatbelt, and I can hear the tiniest bit of screeching from the tires as everything just wants to lock up, I press in the clutch and shift my right heel over onto the gas, pressing it in to bring the RPM back up.

I reach over and shift down from fifth into third, the sound of the engine being all that I can hear at this point, and I let go of the clutch, and start turning through the exit and onto the street below, and by this point, my foot on the gas, but just enough to maintain speed. With all of the energy that I had been storing up, I let go of the brakes and flick the wheel in the opposite direction, sliding me through the second turn.

The world outside my windshield feels like it slowed down as I squeeze between Cole's car and the light post on the inside of the corner. For a brief moment, I see a look of terror on Cole's face, and it is delicious.

With that, I'm put ahead of Cole and gaining, but I notice something kinda fucky on my map, "What's with all these turns up ahead?" I ask under my breath, and as I whip my head up, I see why there's so many turns. You see, up ahead there's just a shit-ton of holes in the road, and construction materials lying around, cones blocking off the street. "Son of a bitch!"

A quick downshift and a flick of the steering wheel keeps me from flying into the unpaved section. As I straighten back out and get back on the gas, I look into the rear-view and see that Cole learned from my small mistake, but he's still a few car lengths behind.

I quickly glance over at my map and see that it's going to take me around the rest of this construction site, it's not much, but it's enough for me to make a bigger gap between Cole and I. Although, as I drive ahead and get ready for the next turn, I feel my car suddenly rattle and a crashing sound reverberates throughout the car, and I can feel my brain bounce around in my head.

"Gah, what the fuck?!" I scream as I grab the side of my head, "Fucking potholes, mounds of gravel, and pallets of cement bricks just fucking everywhere, fucking shit!" I yell as I make my way through the next turn, just easing my way through it.

I quickly look in my rearview mirror and see that the gap between Cole and I has increased by a bit, and at this I smirk. With another sharp turn approaching, I close the gap and give the handbrake a light tug, and I slide around the turn and gas through it, and within my sight is the lot, sitting comfortably under a bridge.

I look in my rearview one more time, and Cole is not to be found, and at that I let out a sigh of relief and I lean back in my seat, but as I approach the end of the race, I see something a little off. As I stare at my dashboard, I think everything's normal for a second, but then I watch as a very specific gauge just nose dives. My oil gauge, to be specific, "...Uh oh."

As quickly as I can, I shut the engine off and stick the car in neutral, and I quickly look back up at my rearview mirror, "Cole's still a fair bit away, I think I could coast the rest of the way." I mutter to myself, and at a much slower pace, I eventually reach the finish line, right as I see Cole hit the last turn.

I chuckle to myself a little, but then pull the handbrake, bringing me to a complete stop, the sound of cheering coming from the lot, and I as I look out of the passenger window, I watch as Raz just moseys over and knocks on my passenger window, and I just roll it down.

"What a dramatic way to finish the race, Golden Boy. You wanted to rub it in that much?"

"Shut up, and get me on the line with a tow truck." I say as I let out a breath through my nose, my mouth contorting in annoyance and anger.

At this, I see Raz's brows furrow, "Why, what's going on?"

"Well, I think the Atlesian Military is coming soon, because I just dumped a shit ton of oil into a pothole, and let's just say that my baby ain't happy. Neither am I, come to think of it." I say through gritted teeth as I grip tighter onto my steering wheel.

I hear Raz hum as he puts a hand on his chin, "Well uh, I'll go and call a tow truck, you just sit tight. God, what a mess, right?" I hear him ask as he fishes his scroll out of his, and at that, I find myself sighing and nodding.

"Yeah." Was all I could say as I leaned further in my seat, letting my eyes shut for a moment, and just letting the dark take me for a minute. I really hope that the damage is repairable, because I know for damn sure that the oil pan is fucked, and I haven't even looked at it yet.

Although, as I sit in my seat and groan to myself, I hear the sound of someone knocking on the glass of the driver side, and I lower the window, "Alright Raz, what's going on? Is a tow on its way yet?" I ask, my eyes still glued shut.

"Huh, what do you mean? Wait, did you break your car?!" I could hear a different voice than I had expected, one actually a fair bit higher toned than Raz's.

I crack open an eye and see that it's actually Ruby standing at my window, a look of concern on her face. I let out a sigh, "I didn't break my _car, _per se, I just sorta, kinda… I did a boo boo, let's say that." I say, not knowing what to really do with my hands, just leaving them on the steering wheel.

Although, as I watch her lean against where my window should be, I hear something make a splash beneath her, "Uh… That puddle looks, uh, not good." I hear her say, and at this, I tilt my head.

At this, I peer through the window and look down, finding myself staring at a slowing growing puddle of oil, "Yeah, that puddle is, what we in the business call, fucked."

"But, let's look at the bright side, you won!"

"But at what cost, Ruby?" I mutter as I look down at the puddle, "At what cost?"

As I look back up at Ruby, I can see that her eyes keep shifting around, as if she were looking for something, anything, to make this situation better, "But, you can fix it, right? Or if not you, then someone else can, couldn't they?" I hear her say, some sense of desperation in her voice, and at that, I can't help but smile a hollow smile.

"Ruby, depending on how bad it is, maybe just a little bit of welding to fix the oil pan. At worst, I'll probably just have to get a new pan."

At that, I hear Ruby sigh, "Well, let's just hope that it's not bad. But hey, at least you beat that Cole guy, so there's that, right?" I hear her say, and at that, I chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. God, how the hell am I gonna get home?" I mutter to myself as I pull my head back into my car and lean into my seat again.

However, as I ask myself that, I look out of the corner of my eye, and past Ruby, I watch as Cole's car pulls up. At this, I smile, "Well, whaddya know."

* * *

So, some time went by and a tow truck eventually showed up, took my car away, I yanked my newly earned car from Cole and caught a cab for Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha. As for Ruby and Yang, they took Yang's mobility scooter. So, to put it quite bluntly, the end of my night has been quite the fucking mess, and I am not in a good mood right now.

As I walked up the stairs to my apartment building, I could hear the sounds of my sluggish footsteps echo throughout the stairwell, and eventually, I made my way to the second floor, my legs burning a bit as I trudged onwards to my apartment. After a while, I finally got to my apartment door, pulled out my keys and unlocked my door, pushing it open and walking through, and then letting it close behind me.

I kick off my shoes and hang my keys on this little hook next to my door and shake off my hoodie, tossing it onto my couch in the living room area. I quietly made my way over to the couch, and just as I made it, I flopped onto it face first, letting the comfortable cushions take me.

God, today fucking sucked. I mean, sure, I made a helluva killing doing this, but I'm just too stressed for this shit. I mean, my car's busted, and Gramps is gonna kill me when he finds out. As I flip over onto my back and stare up at my roof, I find it kind of difficult to keep my eyes open. Maybe… maybe a bit of eye rest will make me feel better.

…

…

…

After a little bit of time passes, I can hear the sound of… Is that sizzling? I unconsciously sniff at the air and- that's bacon! My eyes snap open, a ray of sunlight peeking through my living room curtains being the first thing I see. I push myself up with a yawn as I rub my eyes, "Oh fuck, it's morning." I mutter as I drag a hand down my face and- "Wait a second, bacon?" I ask no one in particular, my brows scrunched in confusion.

I put a hand to my chin, "Did I get hitched last night after the race?" I mutter to myself, and put myself into a seating position. However, as I look over to my stove, expecting to find something either incredible or absolutely petrifying, I find something… Underwhelming is a good word. You see, I find myself staring at a very particular gremlin, Neo I think was her name? But sitting at my table is ol' Ronny himself, sipping from a coffee mug, _my coffee mug, my coffee_, holding a news paper, "Hey Neo, look, the paper's talking about us! I always wanted to be famous."

But with Neo, she's done something a bit different. You see, she's still wearing what she came over with last time I saw her, sans the apron she's wearing, but this time she's got her hair up, and I don't know which looks better. Not that I particularly care, mind you, but I'm just trying to derive as much enjoyment as I can from this fucked up situation. I mean, seriously, they've proceeded to break into my Apartment and steal my food and drinks _again. _I mean, come on, there are other places to steal food from, like Bumpkin Donuts.

Although, as I find myself staring, I watch as Neo looks over her shoulder, a smug smile forming on her face as she stares at me, and I can't help but find myself a little annoyed, "What, is there something on my face or are you trying to find ways to piss me off?" I ask rhetorically as I stand up, stretching a bit.

At that, I watch her shrug as she goes back to moving something on a sizzling pan with a spatula. At this point, I'm too tired to even complain, and I mosey my way over to my kitchen table, pull out a chair and take a seat. I give my neck a roll, letting it loosen up a bit, my neck still being a little stiff from crashing on my couch, but suddenly, I find a mug filled with Coffee set in front of me.

For a moment, I find myself mildly surprised, wasn't expecting it to be _me _who was being treated to some actual breakfast. However, as I reach for the mug, I find myself being hit by a little packet of creamer, and as I look over at Neo to complain, I can see that she's already back to cooking, pulling some bacon out of the pan and putting it on a plate with some paper towels on it.

"Okay, the quiet is really killing me, why did you two break into my house _again?" _I ask as I raise the mug to my mouth, taking a sip from the mug, at least trying to seem like I'm maintaining my composure.

"Ah c'mon Jack, a little bit of a Sunday breakfast with the family never hurt no one."

"_The family?_"

"Oh right, I haven't gotten to that part yet. Forget I said anything. But anyway, how have you been feeling since the race, Jack?" I hear Roman say, are we really just going to ignore that little slip up just now?

"...You just said something really important just then, didn't you?"

"Said what?"

As I stare at him, I deadpan, are we really going to play this game? I let my head drop as I set my coffee mug down, "Okay. The race went fine, I won with a little bit of effort-"

"Oh we know about that, which by the way-" I hear him say, before pulling a very deformed envelope from his coat, "Here's your cut to that, pleasure doing business with you on that front." I hear him say as he slides the envelope over to me.

For some reason, I find myself hesitating to grab at the envelope, but I shake off the dread and open the envelope, revealing to me an unbelievably large sum of money, and as I look back up from the envelope, I see Roman smirk, "See, I'm a man of my word. I'm a criminal, and a rather smooth one at that, but in all my time as a Criminal, I've never once been called a liar, and that's for good reason. A scoundrel? Sure. A bastard? You betcha. A No good, rotten Thief? Absolutely. But never once a liar."

For a second, I find myself speechless, just who the hell am I falling in with? "I've never seen so much money in one place before." I mutter to myself, this… I won't have to work for a while with this much cash. Hell, I could just pack my bags now and go back to Gramps with this much money, and he wouldn't bat an eye. Maybe he'd even give me a pat on the back.

But as I look back at the small stack of cash sitting in front of me, I hear the sound of plates clattering against my table as a plate lands in front of Roman and another in front of me, both of them with eggs and bacon. "Ah, thanks Neo," I heard him say as he set down his mug, "So anyway, Kid, what do you think you're going to do now that you've got all that money?" I hear him ask as he picks up a knife and fork.

"I… I don't know, probably send most of it home to keep the family that matters from dying or going into debt. After that, probably just gonna focus on paying rent and fixing the oil pan in my car." I say as I stare at the plate in front of me, zoning out for a minute before feeling something hit my shoulder. I quickly look over and see Neo standing by me, looking almost annoyed before pointing at the plate with her hand.

For a second, I find myself confused before it clicks, "Oh right, sorry. Sorta phased out for a minute, thanks for making breakfast. _Even if it's my food."_ I muttered the last part to myself as I grabbed a knife and fork.

I can hear Roman chuckle as he eats his breakfast, "Cut the kid some slack, Neo. I'm sure he's just a little shocked at how much he's made. After all, when you've been going race to race, making money off of small bets, this is the kind of money people dream of making. At least, among street rats like Jack over here." I hear him say, and I can feel an eyebrow twitch at the word 'street rat'. I prefer the term 'underground racer', thank you very much.

I can hear Neo let out a breath as she unties her apron, which strangely enough, is not mine, and hangs it off of a chair and takes a seat, her own plate in front of her. For a while, we all just sit here, eating our food quietly. Now normally, I'd find this kind of nice, if not for the, you know, several layers of bullshit being covered up by it, but hey, it's whatever.

But suddenly, I hear the sound of cutlery being set on a plate, and I can hear Roman cough, "Well, this has been nice and all, but I've got something that I've been meaning to bring up since this all kicked off. Now, I never really figured out the way to phrase it, so I'll just say it as it is."

"We get it Ronny, you're a gay clown, there's nothing to be ashamed of." I sarcastically remark, and I watch as Neo silently laughs to herself, her shoulders bobbing and her mouth agape as if she _were _laughing. God, that's weird.

At that, I hear Roman sigh to himself, "Kid, it was funny the first time, but you can't get someone twice with the same joke."

"What do you mean, Neo finds it funny?" I say, gesturing my hand towards her.

"Yeah, but Neo's sense of humor is basic. Mine is a bit more refined, more scholarly." I hear him say, and at that, I deadpan.

"You gonna keep stroking yourself off or are you gonna say something important?" I ask, quirking an unimpressed brow.

"I was getting there, you punk. Now, where was I, oh right. So Kid, I've gotta ask, how would you feel if I told you that the track you raced on wasn't the original track picked for your little race?"

At that, I shrug, "I mean, I noticed that it wasn't, but it wasn't really that much of a bother. If anything, it was kinda refreshing. At least, it was, up until I poked a hole in my goddamned car."

"Okay, good. Now, next part-"

"There's a next part?"

"Yes, now stop interrupting me. Anyway, how would you feel if I told you that the race was recorded?"

"You what?!"

As I yell, I watch him throw up his hand, "Relax Jack, your plates and face are going to be blurred, so you're not exactly going to be exposed or anything like that. Besides, I think you forget, I'm a _criminal, _and so are you, technically. It's not like I can sell this stuff publically, it's all going underground. So don't get your panties in a twist." I hear Roman say, but for some reason, it doesn't really help relieve any of that building anxiety.

I find myself groaning as I bring a hand to my face, but I hear Roman chuckle, "Relax Jack-"

"My name's not Jack."

"What did I say about interrupting me, Jack?" I hear him say, raising a hand and wiggling a finger from side to side, "Anyway, where was I? Oh right. So, once this video goes live, you may or may not have your mailbox flooded with job offers." I hear him say casually, propping his feet up onto my table.

I can feel my brow unconsciously twitch at the sight of Roman's foot on my table, but it's whatever right now, "What, like more racing jobs?"

"Eh… No, not those kinds of jobs. But don't worry, I was just about to get to that." I hear him say, his hands clasping one another, "So Kid, tell me, are you looking to make more money?"

At that, I shrug, "Well, that all depends on what I'd need to do to make cash, you know?" I say, putting an elbow on the table and holding my head up with my hand.

I can hear Roman chuckle as he takes his feet off my table, leaning forward a bit, a smirk on his face, "Kid, I need a good driver."

"Okay?"

"No no, you don't get it. Listen, I need a fantastic driver."

"Right."

"No no, you still don't get it. I need a phenomenal driver."

"Okay, I get it-"

"A driver the likes of which have never been seen." I hear him say, his arms raving like he's trying to sell me something.

By this point, I'm getting a little annoyed, "Roman, shut up, I get it-"

"No, you don't! But lucky for you, I'm here to explain it. You see, I need the best driver around. One that could drift across the clouds if he felt like it!"

I bring a hand up to my chin, covering my mouth so as to not say anything stupid, and to hide my annoyance a bit. With a deep breath, I let the hand drop, "So, you done yet?"

I can hear Roman laugh to himself as he leans back in his chair, "Yep, but seriously, I do need a good driver."

"You keep saying that, but what do you _mean?_" I ask, sure, he needs a good driver, but for what purpose.

I can see him look at me a bit surprised, his brows raised and his arms out, "I need a getaway Driver, Jack! Why else would I need some street rat like you? No offense."

At this, I find myself gritting my teeth, "_None taken." _I force out, taking another deep breath. "Wait, you want me to be a getaway driver?" I ask, the actual question finally hitting me. Now, I know that I tend to break the occasional road safety law or two, but actually driving a Criminal away from his scene is, I dunno, a little sketchy to me.

Although, I can see Roman lift up his hands in a defensive manner, "Now Kid, before you say no, listen to what I have to say first, okay?" I hear him ask, and at that, I can't help but feel, I don't know, hesitant?

But then again, everything up until now has worked out for me when it comes to working with Roman, so I guess I can listen? I let out a sigh as I let my head droop, "Alright Roman, let's hear it."

I can hear him clasp his hands together once more, this time with greater fervor, "Perfect. So, as of recent times, I've come to realize that while Bullheads are very flashy for an exit, and believe me, I do love a flashy exit, they aren't very, uh, practical, let's say. Takes a lot of time to find a place to park, and sometimes, I just want to get in and out. That's where you, Jack, come in." I hear him say, pointing at me.

"Okay, but here's the thing, I don't really want to get in trouble with the law, you know? If they catch me, that's it, game over, I won't be able to do what I'm here to do, you know?"

However, I can see Roman turn his head with a smirk, "But that's where you're wrong, Kiddo. I can hide your identity easily enough, a little wardrobe change here, hair cut there, and some sunglasses, and no one's the wiser." I hear him say with confidence, enough confidence to make me feel like I'm not the first person he's given this whole speech.

"Okay, but what about my car? It's kind of a wreck right now, in case you didn't know."

I can hear Roman chuckle, a little louder than last time, "But Kid, what were you racing for, aside for money, that is." I hear him say with the wave of his hand, and I find my eyes widening.

It's then that I come upon a dangerous realization, pieces of the puzzle starting to fall into place, "...You were planning for this the whole time. It was never about money! The change in the track, the betting, it was all a set up!" I shout as I stand from my seat, and I can see Roman smirk a little harder.

I can hear Neo clap as the realization dawns on me, and I can hear Roman let out a loud laugh, "Look at him, quick to pick up on the uptake, ain't he, Neo?" I hear him ask as he looks across the table, and I can see Neo nod out of the corner of my eye. Have I just been had?

"Wait, I can totally see why you would be looking for just a driver, but what about the whole thing with me ending up with Cole's car?"

"Oh that? Happy little accident, wasn't expecting that, but hey, when life gives you dust, sell it so that you can steal more." I hear him say as he kicks back in his seat in a carefree manner.

I stumble back in my own chair and put a hand on my head, "...So, that's it? That's the big reveal?"

"Yup, what'd you think? I spent a whole trip to the john thinking about it."

"...You did all that, while dropping the kids off at the pool?"

"Yup, now imagine if I had gone to school!"

"You what?!"

I can hear Roman chuckle for what feels like twentieth time today, "Yeah, but I feel like it wouldn't be fair otherwise. I mean, think about it, if I had the average schooling from the get-go, Jacque Schnee himself would be working for _me_." I could hear Roman say, thumbing at his chest.

I can feel a headache want to come on, and I start to massage my temples, "Let's just go back to the job offer, please? I'm starting to wish I _didn't _figure this shit out."

"Perfect, so what do you say, Jack? You gonna put the man pants on and drive like your livelihood depends on it?"

For a moment, I put a hand on my chin, pondering, "_Is this really what I want to do?" _I thought, I mean, on one hand it'll probably pay really well, and I'm already sitting on a fat stack of cash, but that'll probably run dry in a month or two if I send most of it to Gramps.

I let out a sigh as I lean against my table, my arm keeping my head propped up, "I'm gonna need some time to think about this."

I can hear Roman let out a hum, "Well, that's alright Kid. Tell you what, take a few days to think about my offer, I'll be back around Wednesday. We'll sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk about a bright and prosperous future together later. It'll be great, trust me." I can hear him, and then he stands up.

"Well, if that's all for today, then we really must be going. Come on, Neo, it's time to hit the road." I can hear Roman say as he thumbs my front door, although Neo seems a bit disinterested.

Neo had turned to Roman, and for some reason, his brows shot up, "Yes, I know the dishes are dirty, but we really must be going. We did have an appointment after this."

At that, I can see Neo tilt her head, putting her hands on her hips, "Neo, Jack can do the dishes himself, he's a grown man." I could Roman say, a bit of edge in his voice, but it didn't seem to bother Neo.

As I watched, I couldn't help but say and hold up a hand, "It's fine, I can do the dishes later. But seriously, thank you for breakfast, as unexpected as it was." I say, and at this point, I'm getting kind of tired again.

I can see her head turn, her brows shot up in surprise, but eventually, they come down, and a small smile rests on her face. Huh, I wasn't expecting such a nice face to come from such a vile gremlin, consider me surprised.

I can even hear Roman chuckle to himself, "See Neo, Jack can handle himself. And listen to that, he even appreciated the breakfast, you may be able to catch one yet." I hear Roman say, a tone of amusement in his voice, I don't get it.

I can't help but quirk a brow at that last part, but shrug it off as Neo turns back around, and I can't tell what kind of face she gave Roman, but it's giving him quite the laugh. "I was joking, Neo, just messing around." I hear him say with a wave of his hand.

After that, however, I can see Roman turn to look at me, "Well Jack, we'll be back in a few days. I hope you've come to a decision by then." I hear him say, and with the tip of his hat, he makes his way over to the front door, only to stop and look back, "And by the way, make sure to stock your fridge better next time we show up, because you don't have enough good food in your life. All that instant-ramen crap will kill you one of these days." I can hear him say as he opens the door and makes his way out.

Neo quickly follows suit, giving a little wave before shutting the door, and then… Silence. Something that I didn't know I could appreciate so much after something that felt that stressful.

Fuck this, I'm going to go take another nap.

* * *

**Alright chucklefucks, it's me, ya boy. Now, I know it's been the better part of a month since I've last updated, but as you can clearly see above, I've been fairly busy writing this chapter. I mean, come on, nearly 8k words on a single document, all of it having something going on, and that's a first for me, so you fuckers better be grateful.**

**Now then, first off, I'd like to thank my home boy Luzifer for helping me slog through this Chapter, that Race Section was a bitch and a half to get through, and if it weren't for him, I would have bitched out of that forever ago. Second off, I'd like to apologize for my tardiness, it tends to happen when you're being quarantined directly after you're studying for some big exams, only for those to be cancelled because of a certain pandemic. That, and I've also been trying to not die because I may, or may not, be slightly immuno-compromised and that disease could very much kill me. So, forgive me if I'm being a bit of a bitch.**

**Lastly, I'd like to thank my boys in my server, Medic and Ancestor, you guys pushing and prodding at me to keep writing has been very helpful, and you asking about progress helps me stay motivated, you guys have been a great help in your own rights.**

**I think that about covers it? No the fuck it doesn't, you thought you were gonna get away from here before hearing about today's sponsor, Raid- no wait, that's not right. Uh, right, Discord Server, come check me and my boys out, it's fun in there. Now, we're done with that. Can't wait to see you guys next month when the next Chapter comes out.**

**-Rum Aficionado **

**My Discord: /weyEDAm**


	5. Chapter 5: Of Cars and Company

A few days have gone by since I finished the race and met with Roman and Neo for the second time, and to say that I've had some time to think about his proposal is quite the understatement. Over the past three days, I've had a lot to think about, the future, the risks of it all, Gramps, stuff like that. And honestly, I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do, but I'm more inclined to say no, what with all of the cash I'm sitting on.

Sure, some extra cash does sound nice, but what's the rush? I dunno, I might have to just tell Roman that he can shove it where the sun don't shine and leave it at that. But then again, I could use the extra cash to fix my car? No, I don't need money, I'm sitting on a fucking pile of it right now, I can fix it on my own if it's not that bad.

I let out a sigh as I slouch in my seat, staring at the small notebook on my desk, "Should I really be writing about this sort of thing in my notebook? I mean, someone could quite literally waltz in, pick it up, flip through it, and then convict me for conspiring with a crime lord." I muttered to myself as my eyes found themselves staring at the ceiling.

I let out a yawn as I stared at the ceiling, having just woken up nearly half an hour ago now. As I turn to look out of my bedroom window, I can see that the night sky is starting shift away as the sky begins to become this strange purpley-pink color, shit I don't know, I didn't study fucking colors. Point is, it's fucking beautiful, and waking up this early almost feels worth it.

Although, as I stare out of my window from my chair, I wonder to myself, "Maybe I should wake up this early more often..?" I ask myself as I stare at nearly morning sky, and then snort to myself, "Fuck that."

I lean further back in my chair with a stretch, popping in places that I didn't know I could pop, my chair letting out this screeching noise as I leaned backwards, "Man, I really have to oil this chair, because I'm sure that noise will get annoying at some point."

In one fluid movement, I force myself forward in my chair and onto my feet, raising my arm above my head in one final stretch, getting rid of the last of my fatigue. Now then, I've got maybe an hour and a half before I've got to start driving to make some good time, so let's think, what do I want to do first?

As I think to myself though, I can't help but be reminded about what happened on Sunday, when Roman and his Gremlin broke into my home, specifically about the part when they made me breakfast, the perfectly cook over easy eggs, the deliciously crispy bacon, the-

My stomach rumbles in exasperation as I continue to think about food on an empty stomach, "Well, I guess there's always breakfast." I mutter to myself as I begin to walk to my door, nearly stumbling on the _same shirt I did last time! _Fuck!

I deadpan as I look down at the balled up shirt, bending over and tossing it into some corner of the room and making my way over to the door, twisting the knob and pulling the door and walking out. In only my boxers and t-shirt, I make my way over to my kitchen area and crack open my fridge, and I come upon a daunting realization. "Yup, just as empty as it was yesterday. I should really go and pick up some groceries when I'm on my way back." I say as I pull out a nearly empty jug of milk and put it on my table.

I sigh and make my way over to my counter, open a cabinet and grab a box of cereal, and as I look at the cereal box, I can't help but groan as I stare at a certain little rabbit on it, "_Great_, more Pumpkin Pete's. God, I really gotta change up what kind of cereal I get, because after eating this shit for as long as I have, I don't think I even want it anymore. Although, the girl on the box looks familiar, weird..." I muttered to myself as I rubbed a hand on my chin, only to then shrug, probably just rubbed one out to her on the internet or something.

I mean, seriously, I grew up eating this garbage when Mom and Dad actually bothered to raise us, enough to the point where I could submit, God how many was it? Fifty? Yeah, something like that, fifty box tops to earn some stupid hoodie. I mean, sure, I liked it a lot growing up, but now it's just a hoodie with some bad memories. But hey, what can you do?

I pull out the plastic bag within the box and… do nothing with it because I don't have a bowl yet. Am I a spastic or what? I calmly set the half-opened plastic bag on the table, carefully so as to not spill any cereal on my floor. After that, I somewhat begrudgingly made way back over to the counter, cracked open another cabinet and pulled out a ceramic bowl. I then proceed to pour my cereal, yada yada yada, it's fucking cereal, not rocket science.

With my newly acquired bowl of cereal, I take a seat on my couch and turn on the TV, the first thing coming on being the news. "_In other news,"_ I heard the news anchor say, "_Another Dust shop has been robbed on the corner of Western and Maple Avenue. We've got Lisa Lavender on the scene. Lisa?"_

As I watched, I saw as the camera changed from the anchor to some reporter lady standing outside of one hell of a busted up shop. "_Thank you, Vincent. I'm standing here at the corner of Western and Maple where yet another robbery has taken place with Detective Pewter. Detective Pewter, tell me, do you believe that this Robbery has to do with the recent string of dust store robberies?"_

With that, I'd watch as the camera would swivel over to an Older looking fellow, with a grey, nearly white, bushy mustache with equally white, slicked back hair. "_Miss Lavender, considering the evidence found at the scene of the crime, along with what Witness' claim, we have reason to believe that this Robbery is most certainly a part of a string of Robberies done by one Roman Torchwick. But rest assured, the Police Department, as well as local Contracted Hunters are working hard to find and apprehend our Local rat." _I could hear the detective say in a tired, gruff voice. Funny, he almost sounds like Gramps. Wait a second, Roman?

"_Detective Pewter, according to rumors circulating, there has been word that Roman Torchwick isn't actually stealing money, but rather, dust. Does this hold any truth?"_

"_Miss Lavender, I am afraid that that is the truth, but know that Police and Local Hunters are working tirelessly to keep on the trail of Dust that Roman Torchwick is leaving behind, and rest assured that we will find him, and we will pull him out of his rat's nest and bring him before a court of law. Thank you." _I could hear the Detective say, and I can feel a bead of sweat drip down the back of my neck. Working for Roman may be more dangerous than I thought.

"Well," I turn off the TV as calmly as I can and set the remote down, "I think I'll just browse through some memes while I eat instead." I say as I whip out my scroll and start eating. Uh, you know, every day that passes makes me think that I really shouldn't take up Roman's offer.

After roughly an hour, I had managed to just do my morning routine, you know, shower, brush teeth, breakfast, that sort of stuff. But as for now, I'm just trying to figure out if what I'm wearing would be appropriate to wear when it comes to meeting with Gramps. Because he'll tan my hide if I show up in something stupid.

I mean, sure, I _could _show up in my white hoodie and jeans, but I'm gonna be real, I haven't had a chance to wash those since Sunday, I'm probably going to have to change those later. I quickly make my way over to my closet and pull it open, showing several hoodies and some jeans hung up. Now then, what do I want?

Black Zip-Up, red accents? Nah, too edgy. Besides, Black and Red isn't really much of my style anyway. How about a plain, dark green Over-The-Head hoodie? I mean, it's not bad, and I could just throw on some black jeans to boot, probably wouldn't seem that bad? Alright, then that's what I'll do for today. With that, I tear my clothes out of my closet and quickly throw them on.

"Alright, I've got my clothes, my keys are at the door, now where is my wallet?" I wonder to myself as I scan my room, but then I see it, sitting atop the night stand, calling for me, beckoning me.

I chuckle to myself as I make my way over to my nightstand, pick up my wallet, and shove it into my pocket, "Okay, I think that's it. Yeah, wallet, keys, scroll. Alright, I'm good to go." I mutter to myself as I pat down my pockets.

With that, I make my way out of my room, into my living room area, and then to my front door. As a small smile creeps onto my face, I take my keys off of the little hook next to my door and open my door, and mosey my way out. Now, for the fun part.

* * *

For hours now, I've driven down old dirt roads leading me further and further from Vale proper, and the further I drove, the more I felt at home, I guess.

I don't know, as nice as Vale may be, there's just something refreshing about being away from that god forsaken city. I mean, seriously, there's always something going on there, from robberies, to shootouts. Sometimes I just want to get out of there and breathe a little.

As I cruise down the old dirt road, the occasional bump rocking me in my seat, which is incredibly comfortable, might I add, I listened to the radio in my car as I watched as the trees seemingly fly past me, just humming along to the music. The sound of the slow, calming acoustic guitar filling my ears as I drove, the sky above a lovely shade of blue, and with no clouds to hide it. I don't know what it is, but something's got me in a good mood.

However, it doesn't take long for the trees to disappear and for a clearing to be made visible, and in this clearing lays a set of wooden walls, and on top of those walls sat a shit ton of manned guns.

I rolled up to the wooden gate, and after a minute or so, the gate opened and I rolled on through. Now driving through the settlement, Steelbell's what we call it, on account of the big ass bell at the center of town, along with the fact that the bell is, well, made of steel, but that part was obvious.

After a short drive through the settlement, I eventually come upon a house that was out of the way from the rest, near the furthest part of the residential area. It stood two floors tall, colored beige with the occasional pink splotch along a wall because _someone _can't keep it on a canvas.

As I finally got in front of the house, I put the brakes on my car, shut off said car, and as I stared at the door I let out a deep sigh, "Okay, just go in, grab Gramps, and get the hell out. Easy peasy, nothing to it." I muttered with hands tightly gripping the wheel.

With a deep breath, I took my keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car, the cool morning air hitting me and the smell of the frontier dancing in the wind. Man, I didn't think I'd miss fresh air as much as I did. Shoving my keys into my pocket, I made my way over to the porch, going up the steps, the sound of the wood creaking beneath me with every step.

For some reason, I can feel my chest feel kinda tight as I'm within arms reach, and as I go to knock on the door, I let my hand drop. Maybe I can come back in a bit, I mean, I'm sure everyone's still sleeping, right?

No, no I'm just trying to cower away from this, I know that well enough. "Oh this is just stupid. Come on, Jaune, just knock. The worst that'll happen is that you'll have to get into an argument or two." I muttered to myself, trying to sound as confident as I could, but for some reason, it fell flat.

With that, I take my knuckle and knock on the door, and for a moment, there's silence. "Hang on, I'm coming!" I could hear the sound of man's voice come through the door, and I can't help but feel my body tense up.

Oh god, Dad's gonna kill me.

I watch as the door swings open, and standing in front of me is at least a head taller than me, arms the size of tree trunks and slowly greying blonde facial hair, his hair pinned in a 'wolf tail' as he likes to call it, My Dad. However, as I brace for whatever ass chewing I may receive, I see his brows just shoot up, "Oh, Jaune, are you just getting home from classes?" I could hear him ask, "It's only ten thirty, did you guys have a half day?"

For some reason, I feel my body loosen up, and a sigh nearly escapes my lips if it weren't for this weird lump in my throat, "Dad, I haven't gone to school in months."

"Oh God, did you drop out to work? You know your Mother and I can pay the-"

"Dad, I graduated months ago."

I watch his face morph from something that resembled a stern parental figure to absolute shock, "Oh no, did I miss-"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, bud, I was-"

"Working, I know." I say, trying to be as calm as I could, but I could my voice crack a bit, my eyes falling to the floor of the porch.

At this, I can hear Dad let out his own dejected sigh, "Damn Jaune, why didn't you tell me? I would've tried to have gone." I can hear him say, and one word really sticks out in that sentence. Tried, huh?

At that, I can't help but shrug, "It's fine, I get it, important job saving the frontier from monsters that could destroy the world and kill you. Not like a high school graduation is very important in the grand scheme of things anyway." I say, my hands shoved in my hoodie pockets. I know I'm sounding like a bit of a whiny bastard, but it really does hurt, you know?

At this, I quickly shake my head, "But none of that matters, I'm home, you're home, let's just leave it at that. Can I, uh, can I come inside now?"

I can my Dad's brows furrow before shooting back up, "Oh, right, sorry. Welcome home, Jaune." I can hear him say as he backs away from the door, an embarrassed smile on his face as he rubs the back of his head.

At that, I can feel the corner of my mouth want to twitch upwards for a moment, but that feeling quickly disappeared as I walked through the door. I quietly made my way into the living room and took a seat, but there was something I couldn't help but notice. The house was quiet, abnormally so. "Hey Dad, where's Mom and the girls?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder from the couch.

I could see my Dad lean against the wall with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face, "Oh, they're out getting some stuff for dinner later tonight. You are going to be around for dinner, right?" I could hear him ask.

"I… I don't know, depends on if I can figure some stuff out. Work's been kicking my ass-"

"Language, Jaune."

At that, I force my mouth shut and my brows unintentionally furrow, "_As I was saying, _work's been a pain, and they might try and call me in for some early work tomorrow, so I'll probably have to go home early."

I can see my Dad's mouth twist in a weird way, as if he was almost disappointed, "Well, if that's what happens, then it happens. But your mother and I are only going to be here for the next few days, so I figured it might be nice to just eat dinner like a normal family." I could hear him say, and for some reason, I can feel my brow twitch, but also my chest tighten, it's a weird feeling.

But I don't try to dwell on my feelings for too long, "We'll see what happens. But yeah, where's Gramps? He and I agreed to go and see Gran."

I could see him tilt his head to the stairs, "Yeah, Granddad is upstairs resting for now."

"Is he asleep?"

At that, Dad shrugged, "I'm not sure, the last time I tried to check in on him, he called me a bastard and told me to get out. I just leave your mother to check on him now." I hear Dad say, a sour look on his face.

At that, I failed to suppress a giggle, "Yeah, if Gramps still has the strength to be like that, then he'll be fine." I say, a smile creeping on my face.

I hear Dad sigh as he leaned against the wall, "I'll never understand how you can handle that man." I could hear Dad say with the shake of his head.

At that, it's my turn to shrug, "What can I say, Gramps has temperment from another time, with a different thought process, it just so happens that I can see both sides of the same coin. If that makes any sense."

I could hear Dad chuckle to himself, "Not in the slightest, Jaune. Well, I'm going to go and make a couple of phone calls, I'll be right back." And with that, he pushed himself off of the wall and walked past me into the kitchen.

It's weird, I haven't been home for nearly a month now, and it feels like no one's noticed, it's a… A hollow feeling, I guess. As I slumped down the couch, I let out a sigh for what feels like the hundredth time today, "I think I'm going to go and check in on Gramps, just to see if he's up." I mutter to myself as I push myself up from the comfortable couch cushions.

I make my way over to the stairs and quietly climb up, the quiet thud of my footsteps against carpeted stairs being the only thing I can hear. As I reach the top, I take a right and make my way towards the guest room, where I assume the family's keeping Gramps.

Standing in front of the door, I take a deep breath and turn the door knob, peeking in through the gap between the door and door frame, "Hey Gramps, you awake?" I whisper through the door.

Through the cracked door, I can see Gramps laying in bed, his head propped up by several pillows, his mop-like stark white hair put behind his head, kept out of the way, and his white beard seeming to have grown out of control. looks like someone hasn't shaved in awhile. "No, I'm dead, leave me be for another ten minutes." I hear Gramps croak out as he flips over to his side, facing away from the door.

I laugh to myself as I stepped through the door, closing it behind me, "Sorry Gramps, but the dead don't speak. Give it another fifty years, and maybe you'll be right."

I can hear Gramps let out a sigh as he rolls back over to look at me, "Bah, worth the shot. How have you been since we last spoke, boy? Better than me, I hope?" Gramps asks, followed by him hacking up a lung into a closed fist.

I pull up a chair from where the desk was and set it down next to the bed, taking a seat, "Well, I can say this much, money is not an issue right now." I say, a small smile on my face.

"Oh? Did you start doing night work on the corner?" Gramps jokingly says, laughing to himself.

At that, I roll my eyes, "No, I found some extra work, and let's just say that it is some well paying work."

"Let's just say it is, or it is?"

"You know what I mean, Gramps. It's good money, and best of all, we- er, _you _won't have to worry about paying bills for a while." I say, leaning back in the wooden chair.

I can see Gramps' eyebrows, his old, blue eyes squinting a bit, "N-no Jaune, I can't accept that. You've earned that money-"

"The money that I made to send to you, Gramps. It's the only reason I even left for better work." I say as I lean forward in my chair, my hands clasping one another.

I watch as Gramps tries to push himself into a seated position, to which I quickly put a hand on his shoulder and push him back down, "Jaune, that's not fair to you. Besides, I'm fine, you're just overreactin-" I hear Gramps say, before he would turn his head away from me and lets out another round of coughs.

After Gramps finished his small coughing fit, I could see him wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, scraping against his unkempt beard. At what I've just witnessed, I feel my brows furrow and a pang of concern in my chest, "I-I don't know Gramps, maybe it's better if we just stay here for today."

At that, I could hear Gramps scoff as he pushes himself up into a seated position, and this time I don't go to stop him, "I'll be fine, boy. It's nothing more than a cough." I hear Gramps croak out with his raspy voice.

My eyes wander to the ground, trying to find something marginally more interesting, "I don't know Gramps-"

"Jaune, tell me, didn't I raise you to be a man?"

"Uh- Yes, sir."

"Then act like it. Have some backbone, and speak with some goddamn conviction. And sit up straight, for god's sake!" I hear Gramps say, authority simply oozing from his voice.

Within the span of the sentence, I found my back straightening unconsciously, "Gramps, as much as I love you, I'm not afraid to fight a bag of bones right now."

I hear Gramps chuckle to himself as he pats the side of my shoulder, his mouth shut but a small smile sits on his face. "Finally found your spine, did you?"

I couldn't help but sigh, "Yes, Gramps."

"Good, now get out so I can change and we can get going." I hear Gramps say, shooing me away with the wave of his hand.

I put my hands on my knees and push myself out of my chair, "Yeah yeah, I'm going. I'll wait for you downstairs." With that, I make my way out of the room and close the door behind me.

After about a half hour of waiting in the living room for Gramps, I can hear the sound of quiet thudding coming from the stairs behind me, and I turn my head, I see Gramps wearing a flannel shirt, some blue jeans, and his old fishing hat, holding an old cane that he started to use about a year ago.

As I look over my shoulder, I can't help but smile, "All ready to go now, Gramps?"

I can hear Gramps let out a 'hmph', "Yeah, I've got it all, boy."

"You done your three pats?"

"I'm barely sick, boy, not senile." I can hear Gramps snap, but it doesn't stop me from noticing that he's doing his three pats again.

As I stare on, I laugh, "Alright Gramps, let's get going." I say as I push myself off of the couch, "Hey Dad, Gramps and I are heading out now!" I yell towards the kitchen, and I can hear what almost sounds like acknowledgement, but knowing Dad, he's probably not paying attention.

At that, I shrug my shoulders and make my way over to the door, but as I make my way over, I see Gramps pull it open and motion his hand towards. I give him a nod of appreciation and walk through.

With that, Gramps walks through behind me and closes the door, and as I make my way down the steps of the porch, I can hear Gramps grumble, "Jaune."

Now at the bottom, I turn back and note that Gramps does not look very pleased, "Yes Gramps?"

"Where's my car?" I can hear him ask, his white brows furrowed, and at that, I suppress the urge to nervously laugh.

"I uh, I left it at home. Why?"

"No reason, just the fact that you didn't show up in my car was concerning. But that brings me to my second question-"

"There's a second question?"

"Boy, I swear to whatever God there is that if you don't break your habit of interrupting people, I will send you to him myself."

"Shutting up now."

"Now then, my second question, did you join the Mafia?" I can hear Gramps ask, I mean, technically no. I've had a run-in, but I'm not in the mafia.

At that, I shake my head from side to side, "No sir, wouldn't dream of it."

"Ah, so you've just got the taste of some prissy Atlesian princess." I can hear Gramps say as he steps down from the porch with his cane.

I mean, I didn't buy it, nor did I build it, so I have no reason to defend it, but even I have to admit that it's a pretty nice car. "Hey, it's not a bad car once you get under the hood."

From the look on his face, Gramps doesn't seem to be very impressed, "Alright boy, then show me what's under the hood." I can hear him say, and I feel a bead of sweat drip down the back of my neck. Uh, just how much did Cole spend on this car again?

"Uh… Y-yeah, sure thing Gramps just, uh, just give me a minute." I say as I fish my keys out from my pocket and make my way over to my car.

I unlock the door to my car, hop in, pop the hood, and hop out, making my way over to the hood. As calmly as I can, I hook my hands under the hood, taking a deep breath. "What's the hold up, boy? You talked a big game, don't tell me you'd lie to your old man?" I can hear Gramps snidely remark, and I can feel a brow twitch.

With that, I pull open the hood and- holy shit, the sight makes me want to cry. Under the hood was a beautifully handcrafted tucked harness, color matched billet parts, and the works all dressing the inline-5 engine. But the most awe-inducing gem was the top mounted 88mm turbo peeking out from behind the engine. Cole was nowhere near maxing out the potential of this thing, and it probably explained the turbo lag when I gave it the sauce .

My eyes widen as I stare under the hood, and as I look to my left at Gramps, I can see his eyes are the size of saucers. But as I was staring at him, I watched as his old, wrinkled hands lashed out at my collar, "You stupid boy! When did you think it was a good idea to spend that much money on a car?! You have rent to pay!"

"I didn't buy the parts, Gramps! I swear on Great Grandpappy's Grave!" I yell, raising both hands in surrender.

I can see Gramps' brows furrow deeper as his blue eyes pierce into my very soul, "You have a lot of nerve saying something like that, boy!"

"No Gramps, I mean it!"

"Really? Then how'd you get a beauty like that in a piece of shit like this?" I can hear Gramps ask rhetorically.

I can't help but nervously laugh as I look off to the side, staring down the road, "I uh, so I took up a little bit of small-time gambling with some guys I know, a guy bet his car, I challenged his bet-"

"You met his bet?!"

"But I won! I won." I say, motioning to the car that I beat Cole for.

For a minute, I can feel Gramps stare into my soul, only for him to let out a sigh and let go of my collar, "I know you grew up stubborn, but God's sake Jaune, you're no fool. Luck ain't nothing to be counted on." I can hear Gramps chastise.

"Sorry Gramps, but what can I say? I felt lucky. Still kind of do, actually."

"Oh you better, boy. Consider yourself lucky I didn't tan your hide like my Father would do to me if I had done something as foolish as that." I can hear Gramps say as he dusts off his clothes, not sure why since he didn't get dirty.

"Right, well do you want to hop in so we can get going? Because as much as I'd like to be yelled at some more, I'd like to go visit Gran." I say, motioning to my newly acquired with a bit more energy.

I can hear Gramps sigh, the last of his anger seemingly leaving his system, "Alright, let's go." I hear him say. Alright, now for something difficult.

* * *

It didn't take too long for Gramps and I to get where we need to be, the sound of the radio along with the idle banter making the drive feel shorter than it actually was. Within minutes, Gramps and I had found ourselves in a small parking spot in front of a small iron gate, left open during the day.

I took a deep breath and turned to look at Gramps, "Alright, you ready?" I ask Gramps, quirking a brow.

With a quiet nod, Gramps unbuckles his seat belt and steps out of the car. I pull the keys out of the ignition and quickly follow suit, a hollow sort of feeling in my chest. Stepping out of the car, I follow Gramps as he walks through the arching iron gate, and as I follow, I take a moment to stop and look at the green grass, to appreciate the clear blue sky, the smell of clean air.

Just like old times. I slowly shake my head and go to catch up with Gramps, taking longer strides to catch up with him. The quiet sounds of our footsteps on paved dirt being overshadowed by the sound of birds singing.

It didn't take long for Gramps and I to find Gran, after all, she never waited for us anywhere else. After Gramps and I got close enough, we both took a seat, a thin smile on my face, "Hey Gran, it's- it's your Jauney." I say, trying to laugh off this terrible, cold feeling.

I can feel Gramps give me a swift, singular pat on the back, and I let myself properly laugh, "I've been pretty good since the last time I saw you. I finally graduated, so there's that. Oh, I also got a job as a mechanic, and you were right, it's killer on your back." I say as I stared down at her. You know, it would be really nice if she would say something back, but that's not very realistic.

After all, Grave Stones can't talk.

"Oh, I got a little apartment in Vale now, and I've made some good friends, you'd like them. There's Ren, he's a good guy, fairly quiet until you get him concerned or upset, but he's been good to me. And then there's Nora, oh you'd like her, always upbeat, kind of eccentric, and she's always got a sweet tooth, you'd have loved her. Probably a little too much, actually. Heh."

As I stare at the stone, I can feel the life just drain from me, the weight of it all just bringing me down. I sigh, "You were right Gran, you were right about a lot of things. You told me about how I shouldn't rush into growing up, you were right. You told me how it's just best to take it easy, and you were right. I wish I listened…"

God, how long have we been sitting here now? It feels like it's been forever while still taking no time at all, like the world stood still. Oh well, maybe it's just me. But while I've been sitting here spilling my heart out, Gramps has been quiet, a little too quiet.

I turn my head to look at Gramps, and his brows strained upwards, his blue eyes seem tired, almost as if he was looking at something far away. But then, he shuts them and stands up, trudging over to the stone with the help of his cane, and then he gently puts a hand on it.

"Happy Birthday, Darlin'. You'd have loved to have seen your boy grow up." I can hear Gramps strain out, his voice nearly cutting out.

I can't help but take a deep breath as I can feel this knot start to form in my throat, and after a moment, I can feel the knot begin to fade. As I stare ahead, I can see Gramps turn around and hear him let out a tired sigh, "Alright boy, let's get goin-" I can hear him say, before bringing up a fist to cough.

I can hear Gramps wheeze out the cough before putting his other hand on the stone again, hunching over to cough up more phlegm and- is that blood?! Each cough harder and louder than the last, his face going red, and I can feel that knot that was dissipating come back stronger than before. In my state of shock, I find myself frozen in place as I watch Gramps keel over.

"Gramps!" I yell, not bothering to mask the urgency in my voice as I scramble to my feet and to Gramps' side as he curls up.

I-I… Gramps..?

* * *

**Alright fucktards, that's gonna do it for this Chapter, I hope you all had as much fun reading it as much as I cried writing it. I hope you all eat a bag of dicks, fuck off. And don't expect me to be as quick to type this consistently, I've just myself with a lot of free time. Also, Medic, Golden, go fuck yourselves.**

**My discord: ****/weyEDAm**


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